N.B. landlords openly discussed ways around rent caps in video posted to YouTube
New Brunswick landlords and property managers facing a limit of 3.8 per cent on rent increases for 2022 have been discussing potential ways to escape the restriction.
Ideas include asking tenants personally to agree to higher rents, introducing fixed-term leases that force tenants to move on when they expire and proposing renovations to rent-controlled units significant enough to require tenants to vacate, whether the renovations happen as planned or not.
In an online talk posted to YouTube earlier this month by the Moncton Real Estate Investing Organization, more than two dozen apartment building owners and managers heard a discussion about ways to get around rent caps, an exercise they believe government knows about.
“They do know what landlords are trying to do. They know the loopholes that we’re trying to find,” Moncton property manager Tony LeBlanc, who led much of the discussion, said during the 77-minute online forum.
“Will they eventually start closing them? I wouldn’t be surprised. When it’s politicians in play, we just really don’t know what the end game is.” …[Read More]