BC Residential Tenancy Act Changed For Second Time in Past 30 Days.

The Province is amending the personal use-notice period for home purchasers in B.C. to three months to improve conditions for first-time homebuyers, while ensuring that tenants have more than two months notice to find new housing.  

On July 18, 2024, the Province brought into force amendments to the Residential Tenancy 

Regulation requiring landlords and homebuyers to give tenants four months’ notice, instead of two months when evicting for personal or caretaker use, giving displaced tenants more time to find a new home. The amount of time a tenant has to dispute such a Notice to End Tenancy (NTE) was also increased, from 15 days to 30 days.  

Since the amendments came into force, government has listened to feedback from industry stakeholders that a four-month notice period could prevent first-time buyers from purchasing a tenanted property, particularly for those under Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) programs, which require the property to be vacant at possession. In addition, a four-month notice period may not align with the purchasers’ mortgage commitment, which could expire prior to the closing date. There is a CHMC requirement that purchasers with insured mortgages must take possession upon closing, which requires vacancy of the property. The extended notice period could have an impact on this requirement and potentially disqualify them from financing.

In response to this feedback, government is taking action by amending the regulation to allow a notice period of three months and dispute period of 21 days for when a landlord issues a notice to end tenancy on behalf of the purchaser. The new notice period will be effective Aug. 21, 2024.Government included provisions in the initial amendments to be able to make changes like this quickly, in case urgent action was needed.

Landlords who intend to personally move into the rental property, or have a close family member move in, are still required to give tenants four months notice if they are issuing a notice to end tenancy. Tenants of these properties also still have 30 days to dispute landlord NTEs. The person moving into the home must occupy it for a minimum of 12 months and landlords who evict in bad faith could be ordered to pay the displaced tenant 12 months rent.

The Province continues to take action to support renters and landlords, including recent changes to deter bad-faith evictions and the creation of a web portal for landlords. This allows for swifter action when there is a problematic tenancy, and improving wait times at the RTB. Since November 2022, wait times at the RTB have been reduced by almost 54%, due in large part to additional staff, service improvements and investments to provide resolutions faster. Wait times for the dispute stream that fast tracks hearings for unpaid rent and/or utilities decreased by more than 52% from 10.5 weeks in February 2023 to just over four weeks in May 2024, providing quicker resolution for landlords waiting to get their units back.

People with questions about these changes, or who have submitted a NTE since July 18, can call the Residential Tenancy Branch between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at 604 660-1020 in the Lower Mainland, 250 387-1602 in Victoria and 1 800 665-8779 elsewhere in B.C., and can visit the Residential Tenancy Branch website: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/residential-tenancies/help