Traci Lee’s monthly rent is going up by almost $500 starting Feb. 1 to $2,500 per month.
It is a Squamish story commonly overheard in the grocery line and at the coffee shops.
The mother of two said she rented her Garibaldi Highlands home two years ago with the understanding her family needed a long-term lease.
Lee and her husband moved her in-laws from the Kootenays into the home so that Lee could help care for her mother-in-law, who has dementia.
“We need this house,” she said Friday while nursing her young daughter in the home’s living room.
Lee is speaking out, she said, because she feels what has happened to her family is happening to others in Squamish and it isn’t fair.
“I feel like we didn’t really have a choice,” Lee said. “I just feel like there’s so many people who have less of an income than we do, and I don’t understand how they do it.”
The landlords of the home live in Alberta so Lee communicates only with representatives from the Squamish property management company, Century 21. When the couple attempted to contact the landlords directly, they did not receive a reply, Lee said.
The Squamish Chief contacted Century 21 and a representative said the company could not comment on Lee’s particular case for privacy reasons but spoke generally about the market in Squamish.
“It has been more common in the last 12 months to do larger rent increases in certain situations, especially when properties are quite a bit under what the current market is dictating,” Danielle Dobson of Century 21 Performance Realty and Management said via email.
“Many owners have been operating at a loss for many years, and with the rising cost of property taxes and utility bills, they are wanting to get a bit more back on their investments.”
Because Lee signed a fixed-term lease, the increase is legal.
Other property management companies such as Dynamic Property Management in Squamish have also recommended landlords enter into fixed-term leases.
If a tenant is on a fixed-term lease in the midst of a multi-year lease, or on a month-to-month lease, the landlord can raise the tenant’s rent only once a year and by the amount dictated by the Rental Tenancy Branch, which for the year 2016 is about 2.9 per cent, according to the branch’s website.
However, when the end of a fixed-term lease comes up, the owner has the option to negotiate the rent for a new term at the rent he or she sees fit, or can choose to not extend the tenant’s lease.
When Lee’s two-year lease was up, she was given the option to pay $500 a month more or move out.
News of a 20-per-cent rent increase came as a big surprise to Lee, who had thought as good tenants, they would face a much smaller increase, especially given she and her husband are in construction and had fixed up a few things in the home at no charge.
“I’m like a sixth or seventh generation construction worker and my husband comes from a long line of it too,” she said.
Lee added most of their complaints about repairs needed on the house have gone unanswered. She said they were concerned about rotten boards in the home’s deck and a leaking fridge. She said they are being asked to pay more without getting work done in exchange.
The family’s new lease is for one year, so come January 2017, Lee said they could face another dramatic hike or be forced to move.
“Where is the hope for the families?” she asked. “This is a family community, Squamish is really a young demographic. It has a lot going for it, lots of cool new things are going in, draws, but where are the people going to live?”
A provincial spokesperson told The Squamish Chief that fixed-term tenancy agreements balance the needs and interests of landlords and tenants, “providing security of tenure for tenants and guaranteed income for landlords.”
“Tenancy agreements are contracts between two willing participants – the landlord and a tenant – and need to include standard terms that protect both parties. It’s not a loophole. The tenancy ends at the conclusion of the fixed term,” read an emailed statement from the ministry of housing.
“If the parties choose to enter into a new contract, then a new tenancy begins with whatever terms the two parties have agreed upon.”
