The province has announced changes that it hopes will offer protections to owners of trailer homes.
This development has particular resonance in Squamish, where a land dispute over the Riverside Trailer Park forced out 19 tenants this past fall.
“People deserve to feel safe and secure in their housing. For too long, manufactured home owners have faced uncertainty due to rising land values and redevelopment, and they have not had adequate protections when evicted. No one should have to face financial ruin or potential homelessness when facing eviction from a manufactured home park,” Premier John Horgan said in a news release on Tuesday. “We are taking action to give people increased peace of mind by strengthening protections for owners of manufactured homes.”
The province says it will increase security for owners of manufactured homes by increasing the compensation they will receive if they are forced to move because of redevelopment.
Victoria is proposing changes to the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act that it believes will create fairness for tenants when landlords choose to close or convert a park.
Government believes the proposed changes will provide stronger protections for people affected by manufactured home park closures by:
— ensuring the effective date of a 12-month notice to end tenancy is the same for all tenancy agreements under the act;
— increasing the amount of compensation landlords pay tenants who have been given a notice to end tenancy, in order to convert a park;
— increasing the amount of compensation a landlord owes a former tenant if the landlord gave notice, but did not do the conversion;
— providing additional compensation if a manufactured home cannot be relocated; and
— clarifying that a tenant who is unable to relocate their manufactured home is not responsible for disposal costs of the home.
Legislation will be introduced to enact the changes later this month.
The province says current compensation is too low to cover a tenant’s moving costs, or loss of equity and loss of affordability that happens when tenants can’t find a place to move their home.
If everything goes as intended, proposed amendments will assist displaced tenants to move their home to another site, if possible, and compensate them for the loss of their home if they are unable to move it.
