Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the month of September, NWT residents had the opportunity to provide comments to the Minister of Justice about proposed amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act. Since first elected, I have been expressing concerns about that act and asking for some amendments to this piece of legislation. I’m very glad to see that change is potentially on the horizon.
The discussion paper circulated by Justice was thorough and it asked for input on most of the issues I have been talking about for the last five years. However, one issue was notably lacking, one which I hope the department will look at one more time before the amendments come forward. That’s the issue of landlord-imposed rental increases and the lack of an appeal mechanism for tenants if they believe the amount of the increase to be unfair.
I recognize the need for landlords to raise rents periodically. They are running a business, after all, and should have the ability to make a reasonable profit, but the operative word here is “reasonable.” Any increase to a tenant’s rent should be reasonable. Yet that aspect of a rent increase is not within the purview of the rental officer because of the way the Residential Tenancies Act is currently written. The act does state that rent increases can only be done once per year, but a tenant has no place to turn, no one to appeal to if they feel their rent is being unjustly increased.
As the Minister of Justice and department consider amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act, I ask that some consideration also be given to providing authority to the rental officer to deal with rental increases perceived by tenants to be unjust. There are several ways to do it and I’ll just mention three.
First, amend the act to include the words “fair and reasonable” when referring to a rent increase, or establish in regulations an upper limit – say 10 to 15 percent for a rent increase in any one year – or require the landlord to provide justification for the amount of a rental increase, proof of increased operating costs, invoices and so on. All I’m looking for here is some fairness for tenants who feel that their rent has been unfairly increased. As I said earlier, right now there is no opportunity for a tenant to even appeal what they consider to be an unfair increase.
The act will be opened up for the amendments outlined in the Minister’s discussion paper. Now is the best time to consider this change as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
