Faced with skyrocketing rents and a growing number of investor landlords, tenant advocates are pushing the B.C. government for collective bargaining rights that would give them more power to negotiate with building owners.While tenants’ unions have existed in the province for decades, they’ve never secured the same legal recognition and protections as labour unions – but as more families face the possibility of being squeezed out of the market, the Rent Strike Bargain campaign believes the conditions are ripe for change. “We want tenants to be able to get together and organize in their buildings and in their neighbourhoods and across cities – on whatever scale makes sense to them,” campaigner Will Gladman told CTV News. “And beyond that, we want landlords to be compelled to meet with and to bargain with those tenant associations in good faith.”There’s nothing stopping tenants from organizing now, but Gladman said official, government-recognized status would allow them to operate “without fear of reprisal” from building owners. The campaigners’ vision would see renters bargaining with landlords and signing agreements that could cap rent increases when tenants move out, or force owners to perform overdue repairs.
Landlords in British Columbia are already limited in how much they can increase the rent on occupied units – but once a tenant leaves, owners are free to charge “whatever the market can bear,” Gladman noted.
Advocates blame that lack of regulation for staggering increases in rents over recent years. A report from Rentals.ca found new tenants in Vancouver were paying 23 per cent more in February 2022 than those who moved in just one year earlier.
Source: ctvnews.com
