Notes on the letter, dates, and RTB...

For anyone who is unclear about the Rehabilitation Scheme, Janet Halldorson at the Residential Tenancies Branch (204) 945-2476 is the Tenant Officer handling the case.

There are several things to note:

- Tenants are allowed stay until the end of their current lease. They are not *required* to vacate by April 30th.
This date is when the landlord would like to move forward with renovations.

- The letter before Feb 25th, is for the COMPENSATION of $600.
You still have a right to stay PAST April 30th, AND should you vacate after that you aren't entitled to the $600 (they are only legally bound to provide up to $350 in the act.)

- If you choose to stay past April 30, but want to leave prior to the end of your lease, you can provide 1 months notice in writing. (Janet has mentioned this... check with her for details if this is something of interest.)

- IF you want to re-lease your suite, you have until you vacate (no matter when) to send a letter in writing stating your interest. This is because they are renovating and asking us to leave.

- The RTB will go through and inspection of the suites again (maybe as soon as this week.) They show the suites and areas with major problems that require renovation. This happened last year, and it was Janet who came around in April, and she approved the rehabilitation order at that time, agreeing that the building needed these renovations.

- There will be an initial hearing (NOT an Appeal, but the first "process hearing") set after the RTB sends out an order letting us know if they've approved the rehab scheme. You can voice your concerns at this hearing or also specify details to be read or brought up via letter to RTB (talk to Janet.)

Recap: Meeting with Jennifer Howard

Several tenants were able to attend a meeting wit our MLA, Jennifer Howard, this past Monday evening.

The meeting was more in regards to policies and legislation and examining the process of appeal for tenants in general.

Ms. Howard was gracious with her time, and listened to each of us in attendance, but was clear that she was not really able to provide the resources and information for our immediate situation - the appeal process.

Still, some very important information was shared between tenants in attendance and also with our MLA.

On the topic of tenants’ rights and the appeal process:

• We discussed the difficulties and how little influence a tenant has during the appeal process.
  
  
• the issue of how tenants are allowed to access information – timelines for accessing documents being short and difficult, the inability to copy the documents to bring to outside assistance (lawyers, forensic accountants), and the timeline to appeal.
  
  
• the lack of access to resources and advocacy support that would allow tenants to approach the parties at a hearing with a solid case and appropriate arguments.
  
  
• we needed to understand what constituted “regular maintenance” and what could be claimed as “major repairs” to identify what exactly the landlord was attempt to recover costs for.
  

On the topic of policy and regulation:

• Ms. Howard spoke about the history behind the Residential Tenancies act, rent regulation and how they came about in response to inflation.
  
  
• These regulations were put in place to discourage landlords from dropping buildings and property that they felt were too expensive to maintain or keep. By allowing the application for increase above a guideline, they could find a way to recover costs in fixing up & keeping building in decent repair. This is meant to balance landlords costs to keep their buildings in good repair and reasonable rents for tenants.
  
  
• A residential advisory board made up of appointed representatives (landlords & tenants) is set to oversee and approve changes to these regulations...
  
  
• A regular avg increase in rent (below the guideline) usually does not cover larger repairs. 65% of tenants pay the avg guideline, 35% pay the increase.
  
  
• Affordability is another issue altogether from this.
  

Addressing these issues, investigating the “Advisory Board” and writing our thoughts and experiences with the process and sending them to Ms. Howard is something that several of the tenants are interested in pursuing in the long term.

In regards to our appeal, this is still something we are looking for help in building a united “case” for the hearing.
This is something most of us wish to address as it’s pending and time is of the essence.

The key thing is to appeal first.