Existing Tenant Rent Increase at Lease Renewal

[Melanie7266]

We have a tenant that is signing her 4th one year lease with us. We haven't increased the rent in the all the time she's been with us and strata fees have gone up a fair amount. Now that I'm a REIN member, I recognize we should have done this differently However, we didn't know there were limitations and thought we could increase it by $100 at lease renewal (lesson learned!) Obviously one solution is terminating her lease and relisting at a higher price, but that's not an option we want to explore. We would much rather keep her as she's been a great tenant

Do I have to follow the 2.9% which is the maximum for 2016 in BC? Or, if she is in agreement upon lease renewal, am I allowed, by law, to increase it more than 2.9%?

Thanks so much!

 

[Mazurs]

I'm pretty sure you could if it's stated in the lease agreement and the tenant acknowledges the fact that rent is increasing more than 2.9%, you would also have to give notice of the increase (I assume?). Not sure how it is in BC, but in Ontario if you increase by anything more than the guidelines then they just go to the LTB and have it sorted with, in which case the landlord almost always loses.

 

[ReasonableDoubt]

I'm pretty sure you could if it's stated in the lease agreement and the tenant acknowledges the fact that rent is increasing more than 2.9%, you would also have to give notice of the increase (I assume?). Not sure how it is in BC, but in Ontario if you increase by anything more than the guidelines then they just go to the LTB and have it sorted with, in which case the landlord almost always loses.

If it's written in the lease that the agreement terminates on the end date and a new lease is an option, you can increase the rent to whatever you'd like. That's my understanding but I would double check with the RTB.