Amendments have been made to the government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA) as it relates to buyers of tenanted properties.
The BC Government had proposed increasing the existing two-month notice of eviction for personal or caretaker use to four months, however, after the BC Real Estate Association (BCREA) publicly voiced concern, the government has amended the regulations requiring landlords and homebuyers to give three months’ notice to tenants.
Landlords who intend to personally move into a rental property, or have a close family member move in, are still required to give tenants four months’ notice if they are issuing a notice to end tenancy.
The changes for landlords, as they pertain to homebuyers, comes into effect on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, while the four months’ notice for landlord personal use came into effect on July 18, 2024.
The government is also lowering the dispute period from 30 days to 21 for situations when a landlord gives notice to a tenant on behalf of a buyer.
Landlords must also use a new provincial web portal when they plan to issue notice to end tenancy. The province says the website will allow government to gauge how often evictions occur under the personal-use provisions of a rental property.
The BCREA, along with the Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association, had expressed concern to the government about the unintended consequences of the changes around possession dates and mortgage qualifications. Read the July 25, 2024 BCREA news release here.