Ontario - Bill 144, Real Rent Control Act, 2017

[aorozco]

Hi everyone,

I came across this article by Tony Miller about Bill 144 and it got me really worried. As he mentions, this bill has not had the same media attention as bill 124 (Rental Fairness Act)

You can read the whole text here:
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&Intranet=&BillID=4959

"Section 113 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Lawful rent for new tenant
113 Subject to section 111, the lawful rent for the first rental period for a new tenant under a new tenancy agreement is,
(a) any amount that is equal to or less than the last lawful rent charged or that ought to have been charged to the previous tenant if the rental unit was previously rented in the last 12 months;
(b) with respect to a rental unit that has not been rented in the last 12 months, an amount that is equal to or less than the sum of,
(i) the last lawful rent charged or that ought to have been charged to the previous tenant,
(ii) all increases to the rent that the landlord would have been permitted to make under this Act if the rental unit had been occupied, and
(iii) all decreases to the rent that the landlord would have been required to make under this Act if the rental unit had been occupied; or
(c) the rent first charged to the tenant if the rental unit was not previously rented."

Here is my question to the veterans and experts: Other than contacting our MPP with our concerns about this bill, what else can we do as real estate investors? How do we prepare and adjust if the government of Ontario keeps pushing the balance in favour of tenants?

Cheers,
Andrés

 

[andrewn6]

Agreed. This is a worrisome Bill which if passed has immense ramifications. All Ontario Landlords should become familiar with this asap and contact their MPP. If rents cannot be increased after tenant turnover, how do you force value appreciation into your property or at very least keep our ever rising costs covered?

 

[Thomas Beyer]

If this proposed bill passes - a big if - it would be time to vote the socialists out that also brought you massive debt, massive electricity hikes and possibly, even more unreasonable rent control laws.

However, the current, recently amended law is not nearly as draconian, although the allowed rental increase on EXISTING tenants is far below inflation and cost increases - unlike the far more balanced BC landlord-tenant act.

Vacant units can still be rented at market ( unlike this proposed NDP sponsored vote buying bill )

 

[andrewn6]

I spoke to the MPP's office for 30 minutes today and the Landlord's Self Help Centre (LSHC), both were very helpful in helping to enlighten me on the situation:

- Bill 144 is an oppositions (NDP) Bill, it will not have a second reading until Sept-June (if at all), after 2nd reading there are lengthy consultations to bring it to third reading and beyond. As Bill 124 was made by the Liberals and there was much public outcry, they were able to get it though very quickly.

- From our NDP MPP office perspective, it is very unlikely that this new Bill 144 will go forward and that it will stall on the table. This is because much has already changed in the Rent Control Act through Bill 124 and there has been no public outcry yet re 144 (as some of the cries have been calmed by current new legislation)

- Bill 144 includes a registry for rental units similar to pre-1998, so they can track and control rental rates - this is an awful lot of work to complete prior to next election and in combination with the steps already taken above, not likely to pass..

- However, if there is a lot of support for this Bill, anything can happen. Which is very scary.

- I was only the 2nd person to contact LSHC about this, so I'm not sure how many are aware of it.

 

[Marnie]

Thank you Andrés and Andrew for your posts and updates. Continue to watch this and as Andrew has done get connected with LSHC (Landlord's Self-Help Centre) http://landlordselfhelp.com/ and get in contact with your local MPP (Member of Parliament). Click here for a current list of who they are.

Don R. Campbell recently did an interview with BNN on Ontario's market with his insights - click here to watch.