B.C. landlords will be required to use a new website for notices to end tenancy for personal or caretaker use, a move the provincial government says will protect renters from bad-faith evictions.
The Housing Ministry announced Wednesday (July 3) that the website will launch July 18. The province first announced legislation for bad-faith evictions in April.
Landlords will have to use the Landlord Use Web Portal to generate a notice to end tenancy for personal occupancy or caretaker use.
Landlords will be required to include information about the people moving into the home, which is meant to give the tenants a better sense of their landlords' intentions. The tenants can also use that information at a dispute hearing if they believe the landlord is acting in bad faith.
Through the website, landlords will be informed of the "significant penalties" they could face if they are found to be evicting a tenant in bad faith.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said the government is using the new tool to take action to better protect tenants from being evicted under false pretences and ensure that landlords who need to legitimately reclaim their units have a straightforward path to do so.
"The portal will also provide government with a window to better understand when and how often these evictions occur so that we can continue to build on our work to improve services for renters and landlords."
The Residential Tenancy Branc will also be able to conduct post-eviction compliance audits with data from the website, providing information about the frequency of these types of evictions.
Under the Residential Tenancy Act, a landlord can evict a tenant if they or a close family member, purchaser or close family member of the purchaser or superintendent for the building will be moving in.
Also effective July 18 is a new increased notice a tenant must receive and the amount of time they have to dispute an eviction.
Landlords will now have to give four months' notice instead of two months when evicting for personal or caretaker use. Tenants will have 30 days – instead of 15 days – to dispute notices to end tenancy.
Whoever moves 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.
A University of British Columbia report last fall that used the 2021 Canadian Housing Survey noted that British Columbian renters have the highest eviction rates in Canada.