Vancouver Rental Market Discussion

[Changing City]

"A legal challenge aimed at stopping a social housing project in Kitsilano has been dismissed by the BC Supreme Court.

This comes after the province passed Bill 26 in April, which made it easier for the City of Vancouver to move ahead with the 13 storey, 129 unit social housing building at Arbutus and West 7th, also known as the Arbutus project."

CityNews 1130

[giallo]

Fantastic news.

It takes a special kind of jerk to try to stop a social housing project near an upcoming rapid transit station. Again, a perfect reason why the province needed to get involved in municipal housing. The public will only look out for their best interests - misguided as they may be.

[SpongeG]

‘Perfect storm’ of market conditions threatens Vancouver rental projects: CMHC
Developers holding back or delaying projects, according to new report
By Claire Wilson | December 20, 2023

A “perfect storm” of market conditions is threatening the delivery of rental housing in Vancouver and across Canada, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC).

Rapidly rising interest rates, high construction and government fees, as well as taxes and levies have complicated the financial feasibility of new rental projects, states a Dec. 18 report commissioned by the crown corporation.

“Developers today are responding to a ‘perfect storm’ over the last three years in Canada – construction costs are up by over 50 per cent, conventional lending rates have more than doubled and government fees in markets such as Vancouver and Toronto have increased to over 25 per cent of construction budget costs,” said the CMHC’s report, which was authored by financial services firm Ernst & Young LLP (EY).

...

https://biv.com/article/2023/12/perf...-projects-cmhc

[whatnext]

I'm surprised this is just being reported on now. I've been hearing of this from friends who rent for a while:

Vancouver buildings crank up parking, storage fees to sidestep rent increase limit
Megan Devlin
Feb 9 2024

Some Vancouver tenants say they’re seeing massive increases to parking and other fees as buildings find ways to drive revenue despite the provincially-controlled limit on rent increases.

A tenant advocacy organization says it’s an increasingly common — and not always legal — strategy it has seen landlords take advantage of ever since the COVID-19-related rent freeze took effect in 2020.

“At that point, some unscrupulous landlords were looking for anywhere they could find an excuse to increase rent,” Robert Patterson, lawyer and tenant advocate with BC’s Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre (TRAC), told Daily Hive.

Residents of The Victoria, a Strand building in East Vancouver, tell Daily Hive their parking fees increased by 17% this year, following a 15% increase in 2023. Since the building opened in 2020, fees for a basic parking stall have risen from $100 per month to $135.

“It’s exhausting,” resident Ashley T. told Daily Hive. “It’s very, very unsettling and amps up the precarity of being a renter.”....

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/park...ed-up-rent-cap

[GenWhy?]

Except they left out the only juicy and fact heavy part in the whole trash piece:

"Patterson said landlords typically argue that parking or storage is a separate agreement. But he said the Residential Tenancy Act includes parking as a service or facility the tenant gains access to by paying rent — and therefore should be covered under the act.

Within the last six months, TRAC helped one building win a dispute that prevented the landlord from raising a building’s parking fee."

This is news worthy and report on and they skipped the whole bit!

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

Except they left out the only juicy and fact heavy part in the whole trash piece:

"Patterson said landlords typically argue that parking or storage is a separate agreement. But he said the Residential Tenancy Act includes parking as a service or facility the tenant gains access to by paying rent — and therefore should be covered under the act.

Within the last six months, TRAC helped one building win a dispute that prevented the landlord from raising a building’s parking fee."

This is news worthy and report on and they skipped the whole bit!

Interesting. I had always assumed rent controls covered the living unit only, not ancillary stuff. Sounds like there might be lots of landlords under that misapprehension as well.