Is there a epidemic of renoviction occurring in Vancouver ?
On Tuesday, May 22 at 10 am the Vancouver Renter’s Union is organizing a rally to support tenants at 1850 Adanac Street who are being evicted. Activists are alleging that the tenants are being “renovicted”, a tactic that landlords use claiming the need to evict tenants in order to do major repairs to the rental unit, but in reality they are only planning minor cosmetic repairs. When the cosmetic repairs to the units are completed then they are placed back on the market at a higher monthly rent. This is also a tactic to increase rent in a unit that is rented by long-term renter given that the allowable rental increase is regulated.
Vaancouver Renters’ Union media release
I have written about the need for a rental advocate in Vancouver before to support renters who are being evictedread it here There are a number of problems with the Resident Tenancy Act (RTA) that are having an adverse effect on the security of renters’ tenure. There are a number of groups that have sprung up to support tenants who are experiencing ongoing problems with the RTA. Groups like Renters at Risk and Vancouver’s Renters Union have been articulating the problems with the legislation and supporting tenants through the grueling process of filing for arbitration at the Resident Tenancy Branch (RTB).
Another glaring policy need is for the RTB to be able to track evictions. It is simply incredible that these data are not being track and published. All evictions have to be completed with forms that are downloaded off the RTB’s website to be valid and legalRTB website. It would be a very simple step to require landlords to file with RTB when evictions are being served to residents.
Right now we have no way of knowing if there is rise in the number of evictions and what are the causes and issues around the evictions because the RTB does not track this information. This would be useful information to have to track if mass displacements are happening to be able to intervene and support tenants.