More residential units subject to rent control: minister

The province is expanding the number of residential units that are subject to rent control.

Starting next year, units with monthly rent as high as $2,000 will be regulated under the Residential Tenancies Act. Currently, the threshold is $1,670 per month.

“This is a good thing,” Right to Housing Coalition spokesperson Yutaka Dirks said Thursday. “For those people who weren’t covered but will now be covered, that’s certainly a positive. It’s something that we called for,” the advocate said.

The change is intended to protect affordable housing for more Manitobans by expanding the number of units subject to rent-regulation rules, a news release said Thursday.

“This is the largest expansion of rent control in decades, and it will mean lower costs for thousands of families,” Public Service Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu said in the release.

“With stronger protections for renters, we’re making it easier to afford a good home.”

The coalition wanted the provincial government to go further and remove the threshold so rent control would apply to all residential tenants.

“In our mind, there’s no reason for anyone, regardless of how much rent they pay, to be threatened with the possibility of a huge rent increase every 12 months,” Dirks said.

The province consulted renters, landlords, service providers and other stakeholders online at EngageMB about the rent control expansion announced Thursday. It also asked for feedback on restricting landlords from passing along 100 per cent of renovation expenses to tenants though above-guideline rent increases, which housing advocates are still hoping to see, Dirks said.

Manitoba’s 2027 residential rent guideline will be set at three per cent, the province said Thursday.

The annual rent increase is calculated using a formula set out in the residential rent regulation. It is based on changes in Manitoba’s consumer price index and capped within the Bank of Canada’s inflation-control target range of one to three per cent.

The three per cent guideline takes effect Jan. 1 and applies to most residential rental properties including apartments, single rooms, houses and duplexes.

It does not apply to various types of social housing, rental units owned and operated by, or for, provincial, municipal or federal governments, co-op units, not-for-profit life-lease units, approved rehabilitated rental units and residential rent complexes, and new rental units, which are exempt from the guideline for 20 years

Tenants must receive written notice of a rent increase at least three months before the increase takes effect. For example, for a rent increase to take effect Jan. 1, tenants must receive notice by Sept. 30, 2026. With few exceptions, rent can only be increased once in a 12-month period.

Avrom Charach, spokesman for the Professional Property Managers Association, said the government ignored concerns raised by businesses, including property managers.

“It’s going to be a disincentive to making properties better, safer and it’s going to be a disincentive to adding housing stock,” Charach said, noting they will continue to lobby hard against the changes.

Under the current formula, companies make an average five per cent profit from renovations, but the association expects landlords to lose 1.5 to two per cent under the new model.

“It’s going to disincentive investment in our province,” he said. “It’s disappointing as a Manitoban. Never mind as a businessperson.”

— with files from Morgan Modjeski

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca