Supporting renters and landlords with faster, better services (flickr.com)

Media Contacts

Ministry of Housing

Media Relations
236 478-0251

Backgrounders

Actions taken to better protect renters
  • The RTB’s improved and faster services build on multiple actions the Province has taken to better protect renters since 2017, including:
    • capping rent increases below inflation at 3.5% in 2024;
    • banning illegal “renovictions”, which are evictions carried out to renovate or repair a rental unit;
    • launching Canada’s first provincewide rent bank;
    • closing the fixed-term lease loophole;
    • ending all strata rental-restriction bylaws; and
    • limiting age-restriction bylaws in strata housing, except for people 55 and older.
Facts about improved Residential Tenancy Branch services

Each year, the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) receives approximately 200,000 calls requesting information or assistance and more than 20,000 applications for dispute resolution.

To ensure that the Province, through the RTB, is meeting the needs and desired outcomes of a high volume of tenants and landlords, further improvements have been undertaken in addition to new web content and increased staffing. This includes procedural improvements to increase efficiency while maintaining procedural fairness, a reduced need for hearings through the compliance and enforcement unit in addition to recent legislative amendments.

Additional procedural enhancements

  • Procedural enhancements to increase efficiency include the following:
    • the implementation of a dispute stream that fast-tracks time-sensitive applications, such as unpaid rent or utilities, providing landlords with faster access to services when they have not received payment;
    • an expansion of the types of disputes eligible for direct request to include tenancies ending with cause allowing for faster resolutions. Direct requests are used for straightforward applications where the other party does not dispute the application and, as a result, a full hearing is not required. This frees up hearing slots for other cases. Direct request wait times dropped by nearly 84% in November 2023 compared to November 2022;
    • an expansion of the grounds for review to allow the RTB to undertake a review where it is clear an error has been made without having to send it to judicial review reducing costs to tenants and landlords, the courts and government; and
    • enhanced screening for all dispute applications to improve efficiency and reduce delays for tenants and landlords by ensuring all information is accurate and complete and that all prior required steps were taken before an application is set for a hearing.

Compliance and Enforcement Unit (CEU) improvements

  • In 2023, 386 complaints were received by the CEU.
  • With its expanded capacity, the CEU initiated 51 investigations and issued 14 monetary penalties totalling $56,200. Many of these complaints were resolved by voluntary compliance without the need for an investigation.
  • With these interventions, the need for hearings were often avoided allowing the RTB to better direct their resources.

Amendments to Residential Tenancy Act/Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act

  • The Residential Tenancy Act/Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act amendments in Bill 42 received Royal Assent in November 2023.
  • The amendments provide several procedural improvements that increase efficiency and timeliness in all phases of the RTB’s dispute-resolution process by allowing more flexibility around procedural requirements, including new initiatives such the ability to provide decisions orally rather than in written format.

Application of enhanced residential tenancy services to the Squamish First Nation

  • As a result of a recent agreement with Squamish First Nation (SFN), the Residential Tenancy Act now applies on SFN lands. This is an important step toward reconciliation.
  • With this change, tenants and landlords residing on SFN lands will also have access to RTB protections with greater ease and efficiency in instances where a Squamish-led facilitation process has not been successful in resolving the dispute.
  • RTB staff are all undertaking cultural competency training and the branch is working closely with SFN to implement this change.