Legislation was recently introduced to improve Manitoba’s rent regulation system and better protect tenants by focusing on creating greater safety and stability for renters while reducing paperwork and red tape for landlords.

“Manitoba’s growing economy and strong housing market, along with low interest rates, are motivating landlords to reinvest and upgrade their buildings. These proposed changes will enable landlords to continue investing in their properties while helping ensure tenants are treated fairly,” says Healthy Living, Seniors and Consumer Affairs Minister, Jim Rondeau. “We’re also giving landlords new powers to evict tenants who break the law because illegal activity can create an unsafe living environment for tenants and real problems for landlords.”

If passed, the following changes will be made to the province’s Residential Tenancies Act:

• Landlords will be allowed to end a tenancy in response to unlawful activity if it affects the security and well-being of other tenants or causes damage.
• Landlords will be required to compensate tenants for moving costs and the expense of higher rent when they have purposefully created an undesirable living environment during renovations to displace tenants.
• There will be more transparency in setting the annual rent increase guideline such as a prescribed formula for linking the increase to the Consumer Price Index.
• The appeals process will be reformed to allow for more expedient implementation of rulings where tenants have not paid their rent.
• To encourage the allowance of pets in more buildings, landlords will be allowed to charge a higher pet damage deposit for new tenants

The Province also intends to move forward with regulatory changes that would strengthen requirements for exemptions from rent regulation due to renovations and limit how often landlords can apply for these exemptions.

Rondeau says the government will also be revisiting the amount landlords are allowed to charge in extra rent to pay for renovations to spread the cost of less essential improvements over a longer period, with a focus on reducing rent increases.

These changes would be in addition to new housing supports in the Province’s 2013 budget, including a new affordable rental housing construction tax credit, an increase of $6.3 million to RentAid shelter benefits for tenants, and a commitment to build 1,000 new social and affordable housing units over the next three years, says Rondeau.