2. They have already given notice to three tenants in the building that they will be terminating their leases July 31st. (These tenants were given 90 days notice prior to their lease renewal date.)
Here are scans of the 3-page notice give to one of those tenants.
Click on the image to enlarge:
3. We have been told by property manager, Candace Bertie, that
- Everyone can expect this notice 3 months (90 days) prior to their lease expiring.
- If the application is approved, the proposed period of renovations would being June 1 and carry on until the end of October, November.
- New rents will be approx $850 for a 1 BR $1000 for a 2 BR.
4. Some things you need to know about what can happen after a rehabilitation scheme:
- A tenant who was previously living in a complex before a rehabilitation scheme is technically supposed to have the first chance to move back in. (see the points below...)
- New rents will be beyond scope of rent control for next FIVE years. In other words, you can come back to your apartment @ 850/month and then have it jacked up another 50, 75 or more dollars in subsequent years.
- the WHOLE building is affected, every suite has to have renovations as part of the rehab scheme criteria.
- Shindico may not charge the new rent until ALL renovations are completed and meet up to the expectations of the Residential Tenancies Branch. (There is a final inspection for this, and tenants can delay the new rent process is the renovations/repairs have not met the proposed plan.)
5. The official words from the RTB policies and guidelines:
- Within 14 days of applying for approval of their rehabilitation scheme, the landlord must give the tenants affected by the scheme written notice of their plans. The landlord must also give the tenants a chance to inspect the application and the supporting information.
- If the tenants must move out to allow the landlord to do the work, the landlord must give them a written notice to end the tenancy. The landlord must pay the tenant’s moving expenses up to $350.00.
- Tenants who lived in a residential complex, before the rehabilitation scheme, must be given the first chance to move back in. The landlord must charge the returning tenant the lowest rent they would charge any other tenant for the same unit.
- If a plan is approved, the rental unit(s) or complex can be exempt from the annual rent increase guideline for up to five years. The landlord is still required to give the tenants three months’ notice of any rent increase. The landlord is also required to give a Notice to New Tenant form to any tenant moving into the building.
To set an exemption period, the Branch calculates how much the landlord plans to spend on each unit. The Branch then uses the following scale:
Cost Per Unit Exemption Period
$ 6,000.00 – $7,999.99 - 2 years
$ 8,000.00 – $9,999.99 - 3 years
$10,000.00 – $11,999.99 - 4 years
$12,000.00 and up - 5 years
After the Branch sets an exemption period, a landlord may find that they must do more work than originally planned. If this happens, the landlord can apply to the Branch to extend the exemption period.
Suffice to say, we all feel pretty vulnerable right now and plenty unsure of what the next few weeks will bring. So far only 3 tenants have received notice, but no one else has, so we can only speculate what's to come.
In the meantime we will keep trying to figure out what action to take with both the appeal to the rent increase and now preparing to appeal the rehabilitation scheme should it be approved.
We all feel it is important to share the knowledge, and hopefully there will be some of you who may even be able to offer some help.
If you have thoughts or ideas please email 43roslyn (at) gmail.com
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