Rental act needs tweaking

Photo: Contributed

The Rental Tenancy Act does what it is meant to do, but it needs to do it faster.

Sean McCoey manages several rental units for Delaney Properties in Vernon and he said the act – which some landlords feel gives too much power to a renter – does work, but the process is too slow.

“All we were asking for is just a decrease in the amount of time it takes to get someone out of a unit,” said McCoey, who, along with several other rental managers met with Vernon-Monashee MLA Eric Foster about the matter in the spring. “The system does work, but it is very slow.”

He said only about one in 20 tenants cause problems, and in 10 years, he has only had to hire a sheriff once to deal with rogue renter.

McCoey said when legal action is required, it can get expensive, but those cases are rare.

Foster said he has passed the concerns of local rental managers and realtors along to the Minister of Housing and the matter is being looked at.

“We are looking at ways to move that process along without moving the pendulum too far the other way,” said Foster, adding the act was designed to give renters some way to deal with bad landlords, and while bad landlords were rare, they did give all landlords a bad reputation.

He said the same can be said about renters, with the majority of them playing by the rules, but the ones that don't, give all renters a bad reputation.

The Rental Tenancy Act was also discussed at a recent round-table meeting that included Foster, Mayor Akbal Mund, Okanagan-Shuswap MP Mel Arnold and a variety of stakeholders, including realtors.

During the meeting, Foster heard people are not willing to rent their property because of the act and the amount of time it takes to resolve a dispute.

“It's a delicate balance. We need to encourage people in private sector to build rental facilities,” said Foster.

“One of the things brought up by a realtor was the challenge to get people to rent. One of the issues is how to deal with bad tenants.”

Foster said the matter is being actively looked into by provincial officials.

McCoey said landlords also need to be selective in who they rent to.

“It's all about tenant selection and getting all the paperwork right,” he said. “The tenants do have rights, but we just want to get the process speeded up. We would also like to have the amount of the damage deposit doubled.”