Landlords asking for rents higher than usual annual limits ‘shockingly common’, says lawyer.
Tenants in Surrey, B.C., are devastated their landlord demanded a 40 percent rent hike from them — with a warning if they don’t agree, they could lose their homes.
A tenants’ rights advocate says while the situation has some unusual aspects, landlords are free to make demands for higher rent, and many do. Linda De Gonzalez, 70, has lived in Winsome Place Apartments since 2002. She lives on a $2,100-a-month pension and pays $1,014 a month for her two-bedroom unit, well below the CMHC’s median rent for such a unit in Surrey — a city east of Vancouver — at $1,446. But in late April, De Gonzalez and almost half her neighbours received a notice from their landlord. It said due to the landlord’s growing costs, renters must pay more. The residences at Winsome Place are condominium units, but have long been rented out. De Gonzalez’s letter asks her to agree to hike her rent to $1,450 — a 42 percent rise.
“We may put your suite on the market for sale as soon as July 1, 2023 if an agreement is not reached,” the letter read. “If the purchaser of the suite you occupy would like to move into the suite, you may receive Notice to Vacate from them.”
The letter notes Winsome Place is, in fact, strata titled. “If we choose to, we could sell your suite at any time.” ”I nearly fainted,” De Gonzalez said. “I just sat on the floor and cried.”.. Source: cbc.ca/news
Thursday, April 23, 2026
