‘Nowhere to go’: N.S. tenant forced back into tight rental market after fixed-term lease ends | 24CA News
A Halifax-area lady is searching for a brand new house after her fixed-term lease was not renewed and she or he refused to pay a hefty value enhance to remain in her unit.
Sarah Whynot is packing up her downtown Dartmouth condo in anticipation of a transfer on the finish of the month. Her lease with HarbourVista Apartments was not renewed this yr, after 5 years of fixed-term leasing.
“I just need to find a new place to live within, like, two-and-a-half weeks,” Whynot instructed Global News. “I need to be out by June 30, and it’s impossible to find somewhere right now.”
Unlike periodic leases — corresponding to month-to-month or year-to-year — fixed-term leases have mounted begin and finish dates, which means they aren’t routinely renewed.
Fixed-term leases will be a method for landlords to skirt the province’s two-per cent hire cap, for the reason that cap doesn’t apply to new tenants. The hire cap has been two per cent since 2020, however will go as much as 5 per cent in January 2024.
Whynot was given the choice to remain and proceed leasing, however solely with a rental enhance that far exceeds the cap.
“I asked about the rental increase and I was told, basically, it would be between $400 to $600, maybe more,” she mentioned.
“I questioned it because of the rent cap, and then a week later — not even — a notice on my door saying, ‘We’re not having you. You need to leave by June 30th.’”
She mentioned the unique be aware left at her entrance door requested for greater than a 50 per cent hire enhance, altering from $1,100 to $1,700 a month.
“I though my rent would maybe go up $22, not $600. No one can afford that,” she mentioned.
Sarah Whynot is talking out after she was requested to signal a brand new fixed-term lease at a value that exceeded the two-per-cent hire cap.
Megan King/Global News
Whynot took her complaints to the Nova Scotia tenancy board and small claims courtroom, however she was dismissed. The given purpose was {that a} landlord has no obligation to resume a fixed-term lease and the hire cap doesn’t apply if the owner elects to not renew or signal a brand new lease.
The property supervisor for HarbourVista Apartments, Sharon Campbell, mentioned in a press release: “This was a fixed term lease. Landlords are not required to extend their stay.
“The cap of 2% is still in place for yearly leases or month to month leases. Landlord and tenant board as well as small claims court have both decided in the landlords favour,” Campbell wrote.
Whynot mentioned she’s now compelled to start searching for different housing — a tough feat in a one-per-cent emptiness market — or transfer again to her hometown of Bridgewater, an hour-and-a-half away.
“I have a job down here. If I leave (my apartment), then there’s nowhere to go here,” she mentioned. “I have to move home with my parents, I lose my job and, basically, lose my freedom.”
‘Everywhere wants fixed-term leases’
In a press release, a spokesperson for Service Nova Scotia, which is in control of the Residential Tenancies Program, mentioned the province is “always working to balance the rights and needs of tenants and landlords.”
The assertion mentioned they might not converse to the tenant’s particular person circumstances, however mentioned the cap applies to periodic leases and month-to-month leases. It additionally applies to fixed-term leases, “where a new fixed term lease is signed with the same tenant for the same unit.”
“The landlord can renew the fixed-term lease but they don’t have to. If they renew, it must be within the rent cap,” the assertion mentioned.
It mentioned the federal government is reviewing how fixed-term leases are being utilized by landlords and “any changes to fixed-term leases would need to be made through legislation.”
Meanwhile, Whynot is pressured about being subjected to the whims of an especially aggressive rental market.
“There’s so many scams out there right now, people wanting money up front, people wanting astronomical prices,” she mentioned, including that she has a cat which is making it much more tough to discover a house.
“And everywhere wants fixed-term leases, and that’s just not really an option.”
— with recordsdata from Alex Cooke
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
