What To Know As A Buyer Or Seller When Ending A Tenancy - New timelines, Residential Tenancy Branch Link, Web Portal, Etc.

​As of July 18th 2024, the province of British Columbia has made some changes which impact what a landlord, or new purchasor can and can not do, when it comes to establishing a tenancy, maintaining, one, or attempting to terminate one.
These changes have presented some new things to think about/consider when you are a landlord. The point of this blog post is to educate you about these changes as they certainly can impact the ease or difficulty of a transaction when you may be attempting to sell a place that is a secondary residence. So, let’s get started on what these changes are:

1. The RTB (access the Residential Tenancy Branch here) has developed a web portal that you need to register your notice to end tenancy. In the past you had to serve this to your tenants in writing, or in person, and you still do, but now it has to be logged on the portal first. You can access the portal here, create your credentials, and start the process if you need. You will need to provide the reasoning why the tenancy needs to come to an end, allowing the province to have a better understanding of the scenario, with the intention being to monitor wrongful evictions a bit closer.
   
2. Once the form(s) have been completed in the portal, and served to the tenant, they will have up to 30 days to dispute the notice they have been served, as opposed to what used to be 15 days.  
3. One of the biggest changes in this new legislation is the duration of time the tenant gets once this notice has been served. It used to be 2 months that you had to give the tenant, but now you have to provide 4 months notice if you plan to move in yourself, and 3 if you are the new purchaser inheriting the tenancy. Giving the tenant more time to find a new place. (I will get the complexities that can create from a sell side of things, but for now just want to lay out the changes.
   
4. If you are serving this notice to move in yourself, an immediate family member (spouse, parents, children), or a caretaker - you/they must live in the unit for a minimum of 12 months.  
   
5. Wrongful evictions, such as moving in for less than 12 months and selling, or moving someone in that isn’t a direct family member/caretaker, saying you are going to renovate or redevelop and not having the permits, or plan to immediately do so, can result in having to pay the prior tenant up to 12 months of the rent they were paying as penalty/compensation.
6. If you are a new purchaser on a unit that is currently tenanted, or a home that has a tenant in any portion of it (basement suite for example), you still have to register this on the new tenancy portal, but instead of the 4 month notice, it has been reduced to 3 month notice. This is a brand new change in these already new rules, and the reasoning for this is because often a mortgage has only a 90 day rate hold, so a tenancy can really mess with the financing side of a completion of a deal if you chose to do a longer close based on a tenant.

So with these changes, there is a lot to think about and I won’t give my opinion on if it seems right or wrong, but I will say it can take very careful planning as it can really make buyers, sellers, and tenants have a lot to consider, and agents need to be able to explain this all very carefully, because the penalties have become quite severe. A wrongful eviction can hypothetically cost 10’s of thousands of dollars if you have to come up with 12 rent penalty.
 
My advise for a buyer, or seller, is to discuss the options with the tenant, as these regulations are what is required if the tenant is unwilling to come to some sort of agreement. A Mutual Agreement To End Tenancy is always an option, but often will require a very easy going, respectful and cooperative tenant, which isn’t always the case(especially if they are paying well under market rate, or are very tied to the place for whatever reason). That said, I often see a bit of compensation to the tenant make them quite a bit more cooperative. For example, you already have to give them their last month rent as part of a rental agreement (based on a first and last initial payment), so if you propose a 2nd free month for example this can really help motivate the tenant to be willing to move earlier. It might cost you a couple thousand dollars, but depending on your scenario as the buyer or seller, it might be way easier than complicating the purchase or sale, or having to cover 2 mortgages for an additional month or two because you can’t get in cause they won’t get out. Or if you are on the selling side, it is often best to get this signed and squared away prior to listing, as it can be a real turn-off to buyers if they know the tenancy might be a real hassle for their purchase timelines and needs. You want to make the property as marketable as possible, and dates of completion as flexible as possible to make it as workable for buyers needs as you can.
Anyway, this is just a quick comb over of the regulations that were just rolled out through Vancouver, and British Columbia for that matter. I am happy to discuss the specifics and strategies to assist you in your real estate needs to talk about how to over come some of these hurdles in the most affective fashion.
If you have any questions around these rental regulations, or any real estate related questions don’t hesitate to ask them below, or give me a call directly at 778-927-4306. Lastly you can book a call with me at a time that is convenient for you at this link here, and I will get in touch.