The B.C. government introduced legislation with changes to the Residential Tenancy Act and Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act that could give tenants additional time and compensation if they’re to be displaced by renovation or demolition.
“Tenants need stronger protections when a landlord is choosing to renovate or sell their property,” Housing Minister Selina Robinson said in a news release.
“By improving protections, renters, as well as tenants of manufactured home parks, will have better security in these difficult situations.”
Proposed changes to the Residential Tenancy Act include providing tenants more time to dispute a notice or find alternate housing if their landlord ends a tenancy to demolish or renovate, as well as increasing the compensation amount a landlord must pay to a former tenant if evicted for the same reasons.
This compensation would also apply in situations where the landlord used a ‘vacate’ clause because they had plans to move back in, but then re-rented the unit to someone else.
For those living in trailer parks and manufactured homes, amendments to the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act include a 12-month notice to end tenancy, increasing compensation landlords pay tenants if converting a park or if a manufactured home cannot be relocated and that landlords would be responsible for the disposal costs of a home if it can’t be relocated.
