Whereas British Columbia is in a housing crisis and the Residential Tenancy Act is intended to provide a fair balance between the right of tenants to safe and secure affordable housing and the right of landlords to maintain their property and see a return on their investment; And whereas the current Residential Tenancy Act was enacted in 2004 and the last comprehensive review was completed over 20 years ago 2001-2002, and there is no indication from the Province that a new review will be conducted; And whereas the Province is investing 15 million over three years to hire and train more Residential Tenancy Branch staff and the Province reports a growing caseload for adjudicating disputes between renters and landlords: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM lobby the Province of British Columbia to conduct a formal review of the Residential Tenancy Act that includes meaningful consultation with stakeholders and considers tenancy legislation enacted in other Canadian jurisdictions.
Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs In 2018, the Province appointed the Rental Housing Task Force to advise on how to improve security and fairness for landlords and tenants. In alignment with the Task Forces recommendations, the BC Government has been implementing legislative, regulatory, policy, and operational changes. Examples of changes that have come into effect include: addressing renovictions; enabling local governments to use tenant protection bylaws; strengthening the processes for making, investigating and levying administrative penalty complaints; increasing availability of strata housing by eliminating rental bans; maintaining rent tied to the renter; enforcing short-term rental rules; making the Residential Tenancy Branch RTB more responsive, accessible and proactive; recording RTB hearings to improve fairness and consistency; expanding grounds for appeal to improve procedural fairness; requiring landlords to apply to the RTB for an order of possession; tenant rent reduction if the landlord refuses to make repairs in a timely way; improving timelines for security deposit returns; simplifying regulations relating to landlord obligations to store abandoned property; exempting supportive housing from sections of the Residential Tenancy Act that prohibit restrictive guest policies and wellness checks; and limiting frequency and notice of manufactured home park rule changes. The RTB will continue to monitor tenancy laws in BC and consult with stakeholders as needed to ensure tenancy laws meet the needs of both landlords and tenants.