Moncton tenants dodge 94% rent increase shortly after N.B. rent cap expires - Action News
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New Brunswick

Moncton tenants dodge 94% rent increase shortly after N.B. rent cap expires

Melanie Wallace and her partner pay $900 per month for their Moncton apartment but on New Year's day the two found a notice from their landlordin the mailbox announcing plans to raise that to $1,750 later this year.

Landlord still seeking increase of 55 per cent

A building with a sign to the left of it that says
The building at the corner of Robinson and Main streets in downtown Moncton has housed a variety of bars, eateries and other retail outlets over the years, with apartments on the second storey. Tenants were hit with substantial rent increase notices over the New Year's weekend. (Pierre Fournier/CBC)

Melanie Wallace and her partner pay $900 per month for their Moncton apartment, but on New Year's Day the two found a notice from their landlordin the mailbox announcing plans to raise that to $1,750 later this year.

If implemented, it would have been a 94 per cent increase.

"My partner and I looked at it and we were like, this can't be legal," said Wallace.

"We were shocked."

This week Wallace's landlord, Moncton developer Stephen Gallant, rescinded the increase and in an interview called it poor judgment on his part.He still plans to raise rent on Wallace's unit to $1,395, a 55 per cent increase.

A man with his mouth slightly open and wearing a suit jacket
Stephen Gallant issued rent-increase notices to tenants of his mixed-use Robinson Street building, including one at 94 per cent. This week he rescinded the notices and apologized, but is still asking for double-digit increases in most cases. (Michel Nogue/Radio-Canada)

He and Wallace disagree on whether it is a oneor two-bedroom unit, but in Gallant's view a 94 per cent increase would fairly bring Wallace's rent up to market rates in Moncton.Still, he said he accepts that94 per cent was too much to impose at once.

"In business you don't always make the right decision," said Gallant.

The notice to Wallace, and noticesfor differing amounts to other tenants in hisdowntown Moncton buildingthat he also rescinded, signal the start of what could be a tumultuous year for renters in the province.

It's cutthroat out there- Leigh Johnson, Moncton tenant

On Jan.1, New Brunswick ended a one-year hard cap of 3.8 per cent on rent increases, implemented to protect tenants from excessive price spikes.

Instead, the province is counting on the marketplace, responsible landlords, new rules and more powers for government tenancy officers to help keep rent increases fair.

But with inflation high and vacancy rates low, what landlords will be asking for, and what the province will accept as being fair if tenants object, is not entirely clear.

Leigh Johnson is Wallace's neighbour in the same building and is facing that dilemma.She initially received a rent increase notice from Gallant of 41 per cent from $800 per month to $1,125.

Two women standing next to each other in front of a red building with snow on the ground
Leigh Johnson, left, and her sister Bailey, each rent an apartment in the same Robinson Street building. They were both looking to move after getting 40 per cent rent-increase notices, but are rethinking that after the increases were cut in half. (Vanessa Blanch/CBC)

"It really shook me," said Johnson, who works in the service industry.

"We're just going to keep seeing prices go up and up, and that to me is very scary. This is just another example, like 'oh my gosh am I going to be homeless next month.'"

Johnson immediately contacted the province's Residential Tenancies Tribunal to object.She said no one got back to her on that, but on Tuesday, Gallant retracted the $325 rent increase on his own, apologized in person for issuing itand replaced it with a rent hike of $175totake effect next summer.

Johnson is happy with the improvement, but it's still a 22 per cent increase and she is not entirely sure how to react to that.

New rules allow provincial tenancy officers the discretion to require a landlord to spread an increase over two years if it is double the rate of inflation and over three years if it is triple inflation or more.

A woman stands in front of a New Brunswick flag, left, and a Canadian flag.
Jill Green, the minister responsible for housing, announced in November New Brunswick was ending its one-year experiment with hard rent-cap protections for tenants. Instead the province adopted new rules about how and when increases can occur and how tenants can object. (Shane Fowler/CBC News)

But there can be exceptions.If a new, higher rent will stillbe lower than what other similar apartments in the area rent for, a large increase can be allowed to proceed all at once.

Abrief look at Moncton's current rental market convinced Johnson a 22 per cent increase may still leave her paying less than others in that city.That, and the non-response she gotfrom her initial complaint to the tenanciestribunal has her considering accepting the new amount without a fight.

"It's cutthroat out there," Johnson says about renting in Moncton.

Melanie Wallace has a similar decision to make about whether to accept or dispute her 53 per cent rent increase.She said being a renter has become "scary and uncertain" in the last couple of years, especially for those with limitedincomes.

Tribunal 'overworked' says advocate

Jael Duarte is a lawyer with the New Brunswick Coalition for TenantsRights.

She said she isn'tsurprised by the size of the rent increases being faced by Wallace and Johnson andfears a wave of others like them in the wake of the rent cap ending.

And she has doubts thetenanciestribunal has the resources required to properlypolice a large number.

"They are overworked at the tribunal," said Duarte.

Closeup headshot of a young, dark-haired woman standing in front of a brick wall.
New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants Rights lawyer Jael Duarte expects a large number of tenants to be hit with major rent hikes in 2023. (N.B. Coalition for Tenants Rights)

"They are alreadyrespondingslower than before."

Figures do show applications to the Residential Tenancies Tribunal for help with a rent increase jumped to 44 in December.That's up 29 per cent from November when the end of the rent cap was first announced.

But Duarte expects that number will grow.

Under new rules, landlords must give six months'notice of a rent increase and tenants have 60 days to ask the tenancies tribunal for a review, both changes the province says will help tenants in the absence of the rent cap.

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