Proposed amendments to Manitoba’s Residential Tenancies Act would create a registry of contact information for tenants’ use to be coordinated through the provincial Residential Tenancies Branch (RTB), and introduce harsher penalties for landlords who fail to comply with RTB orders. Other measures in the contemplated package of new rules, introduced as Bill 13, would allow past orders against tenants to be removed from the public record and implement a five-year review cycle for the Act’s rent regulation.
“The Residential Tenancies Act amendment aims to deliver an immediate and meaningful improvement to rental housing affordability while ensuring a fair and transparent regulatory environment for both tenants and landlords,” Mintu Sandhu, Minister of Public Service Delivery told members of Manitoba’s legislative assembly as he launched second reading debate on the bill earlier this month.
As proposed, landlords would be required to provide the RTB with the address and a descriptive summary of each occupied unit in their portfolios, along with their own name, address and phone number and the same contact information for property managers or other agents responsible for repairs, rent collection and/or other types of liaison with tenants. The resulting database of contact information is intended to ensure tenants can identify and reach responsible parties if they need to discuss repairs or other issues.
On the flipside, landlords could lose access to tenants’ history with the RTB. It’s proposed that orders against them, and the accompanying written reasons for those decisions, would not be made available to the public after a period of seven years, except in cases where the order was due to a tenant’s unlawful conduct or dangerous behaviour. In the latter instances, individuals could still petition to have their records removed from public availability.
Other proposed amendments would authorize administrative penalties for failing to comply with an RTB order, and would double the maximum penalty from $5,000 to $10,000. When questioned, Sandhu characterized these measures as a response to “bad actors” who habitually ignore or defy RTB orders, and assured the legislative assembly that landlords will generally be given time to make repairs before an administrative penalty is exacted.
From the opposition benches, Progressive Conservative MLA Josh Guenter argued the proposed amendments will create cost and uncertainty for landlords and prospective investors in new rental housing.
“The requirement for landlords to file detailed information about each rental unit with the director may improve data collection, but it also introduces an additional administrative burden. The expansion of enforcement powers and the increase in administrative penalties may enhance compliance, but they also increase the regulatory risk associated with operating rental housing,” he said. “The requirement for periodic reviews of rent regulation introduces a degree of ongoing uncertainty about the future regulatory environment.”
