“The current crisis of rental availability and affordability in Vancouver is posing a serious challenge to the ability of renters to stay and thrive in Vancouver.”

Housing affordability for renters has been a clear issue in recent municipal and provincial elections, with several politicians offering different solutions (Vancouver Sun, 2019). It should be no surprise that various politicians across several locations are trying to help renters and rentals really do make up a large percentage of voters.

However, politicians may push policies that will actually harm tenants by discouraging developers from building critically needed rental homes or from repairing existing aging rental buildings.

According to the Vancouver Sun, new municipal policies force landlords to pay tenants if they are forced to move out during renovations, they even have the right to return to renovated suites at the previous cost of rent.

“Other policies that impose high costs on new rental developments, as well as the uncertainty if they will be approved by councils, have developers, banks and other financiers such as large pension funds backing away from purpose-built rental projects in Metro Vancouver” (Vancouver Sun, 2019). A poll found that 14,000 of 18,000 rental units in the Lower Mainland under development had been shelved.

If you are thinking of buying or selling your property, or would like to get expert real estate advice, please contact Matt Gul, a top selling luxury real estate agent in West Vancouver. Contact Matt Gul at 778.888.8888 or at  [email protected]

Summarized by Selin Gul

Original Source: https://vancouversun.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-progressive-rental-policies-risk-hurting-renters

What P.E.I. can learn from Vancouver's new short-term rental rules

Toronto rent is high. It’s unlikely that anyone renting in Toronto needs a report to confirm this. But it’s not just that the rent is high. It’s that it keeps going up.

Canada’s rental market saw little change over the past month, according to the May 2019 report from Padmapper.

TORONTO — Housing advocates and property owners squared off Monday at a housing tribunal in Toronto that will determine the rules regarding short-term rentals like Airbnb.

An unhappy tenant led to a realtor getting disciplined by the Real Estate Council of B.C.

Above is an image of Architect Ron Thom’s work, the Boyd house.

A North Vancouver woman who illegally operated the Oasis Hostel at 230 West 13th St. has been ordered to pay back more than $52,000 to her strata following a years-long legal dispute and multiple court appearances | File photo: Mike Wakefield/North Shore News

Rentals.ca has released its National Rent Rankings report for August 2019, and Vancouver was ranked the most unaffordable city again.

In the past few weeks, landlords have besieged Mark Goodman, a multi-family specialist with Vancouver’s Goodman Commercial Inc., wanting to list their properties for sale, including rare portfolios in Vancouver’s hottest rental neighbourhoods.