Landlords Worry Rent Cap, Heating Costs Will Drive Mass Rental Unit Sell-Off
HALIFAX — The subject of home heating costs has ignited across Canada as winter creeps around the corner, and the federal carbon tax soon to take effect in various provinces. It’s also an issue top of mind for Halifax landlords.
Nova Scotia still has a lot of old buildings that rely on oil furnaces for heat. Landlords are reporting unmanageable increases in the cost of heating their units.
Mike Burgess has been a Dartmouth landlord for 40 years. He has more than 70 units concentrated in the city’s north end. One of his one-bedroom apartments usually rents for between $700 and $900 per month. Many of his tenants have been in the same units for several years.
According to Burgess, the cost of heating an apartment building has more than doubled in two years. He owns a 12-unit building that has an 1,136-litre oil tank. In 2020, it cost him $988 to fill; in October, it cost him nearly $2,400.
In the entire year of 2020, Burgess spent $12,180 to heat that building. After the first 10 months of 2022, that bill has already ballooned to $24,616.
The increased cost of home heating comes at a time when other major expenses for landlords have also gone up. Burgess says his insurance has gone up 60 percent over two years. …[Read More]