Brent Granby: Residential Tenancy Branch should start tracking evictions
Today at 10 a.m., the Vancouver Renters' Union is organizing a rally to support tenants at 1850 Adanac Street who are being evicted. Activists allege that the tenants are being “renovicted".
This term is used to describe instances in which landlords claim that tenants must move in order to do major repairs to the rental unit. In reality in a renoviction, the landlord is only planning minor cosmetic repairs. When these cosmetic repairs to the unit are completed, the unit is placed back on the market at a higher monthly rent. This enables landlords to increase revenue over the long term, given that the allowable rental increase is regulated.
I have written about the need for a rental advocate in Vancouver to support renters who are being evicted. There are a number of problems in the Resident Tenancy Act that are having an adverse effect on the security of renters’ tenure. Renters at Risk and the Vancouvers Renters' Union have also been articulating their concerns with the legislation and supporting tenants through the gruelling process of filing for arbitration at the Residential Tenancy Branch.
Another glaring policy need is for the branch to be able to document evictions. It is simply incredible that this is not being tracked and published.
Landlords are required to complete forms downloaded from the branch's website for an eviction to be valid and legal. It would be a very simple step to require landlords to file these forms with the branch when eviction notices are being served to residents.
Now, we have no way of knowing if there is an increase in the number of evictions—and if so, what are the causes and issues around them—because the branch does not track this information. This would be useful information to track if mass displacements are happening in order to be able to intervene and support tenants.
Brent Granby is a longtime resident of the West End and ran as a COPE candidate for park board in the 2011 election. This article originally appeared on his blog.
Comments
4 Comments
Peter Louwe
May 22, 2012 at 8:20am
Landlords cannot evict residents under the guise of needing to conduct major renovations, do minor work instead and jack up rents. They need permits and inspections by the city. If the work isn't performed, residents can prove it and landlords are on the hook for rent and fines.
DavidH
May 22, 2012 at 10:42am
@Peter: That's called "a distinction without a difference".
Yes, your comment is legally correct. Unfortunately, tenants can only prove that the landlord was lying AFTER the fact. In the meantime, they still have to relocate, which is not always affordable for tenants (nor is taking time away from work to deal with the appeals process).
Furthermore, for some landlords, the potential for vastly increased rental income outweighs the slaps on the wrist they receive from "the authorities".
BTW,we should stop calling landlords "landlords". They aren't "lords" and this isn't a feudal society.
OldCynic
May 22, 2012 at 10:46am
I would largely agree. At the same time, I've experienced several abusive and illegal landlords, and via the somewhat arduous filing process the RTO has been beneficial to me, most of the time. It's essential that full documentation, like friend & witness statements, reviewed and verified videos and photos (last I heard, they don't accept electronic evidence but will accept reviews in paper documents of such by third parties), impact statements and detailed costs and effects of substandard tenancy, etc must all be included with one's filing. Arbitration is usually held by telephone conference. Well organized and redundant paper evidence works well. A bit of an ordeal, but worth it in an emergency.
seth
May 22, 2012 at 3:17pm
Landlord sticks eviction notice on your door. He's got a drawer full takes him 10 minutes. Cost zero. Reason for eviction - he checks a few generic boxes.
You have ten days to file against. If you screw up by failing to dot an i or cross a T you are so evicted. You either need a credit card to pay $50 or you have to get your ass up to Burnaby taking time off work to file. You have to wait around for a few hours to get paper work, to send to landlord by registered mail. You have to pay $10 for registered mail.
You still don't know the details of why you are being evicted.
5 days before hearing landlord sends you package of evidence. You are supposed to respond with your evidence same day. Good luck with that since it is often all news to you, while the landlord has been keeping files on you for years and has lined up his cronies with perjured statements months in advance.
You phone in on hearing date. You better have some witnesses to phone in who will likely be evicted in revenge. If you lose you get the boot. The landlord if he loses will just file again next month - no problem no cost to him.
If you live on a mobile home on a rented pad and are evicted you lose the entire value of your investment up to $150K, as there are no parks that take older mobile homes. You pay $10 to 20K to clean up site and junk your unit.
Welcome to the Fascist state of BC - minister Dick "Pinko" Coleman aka Darth Vader.
seth