IMPORTANT CHANGES TO TENANCY RULES IN BC EFFECTIVE JULY 19, 2024

By now you may be aware of some major changes coming to BC’s tenancy’s rules. On July 3, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon announced on behalf of the BC Government, that its long-awaited online portal which landlords will be forced to use in order to issue a notice to end tenancy under the updated rules is forthcoming. 
 
The following information is critically important to understand for landlords & those purchasing rental property or property with a rental suite.
 
 
The updated rules now state:
 
1) Landlord must issue notices to end tenancy through the online portal which has not yet been launched, but will be launched on July 18th.
 
2) The NOTICE PERIOD TO END TENANCY on the grounds of personal/immediate family use has now been extended from two months to FOUR months. And remember, that’s four full months. In other words, if you were to request vacant possession on July 19th and thereafter, the earliest date possible for vacant possession would be December 1st, 2024. 
 
3) The number of days permitted for a tenant to dispute a notice to end tenancy has been doubled also, from 15 days to 30 days. 
 
For buyers currently purchasing a tenanted property they are planning to move into, you cannot issue a notice to end tenancy until all your Subject Conditions are removed. Plus, you need to ensure that the notice has been issued properly to be deemed received by the tenant. Most property managers will recommend 5 days’ notice to achieve this by registered mail. It is imperative that if you are purchasing a tenanted property, that you really have perhaps just under a week remaining to issue such a notice without risking falling under the new rules. 
 
This is going to cause a number of changes and there will be obvious problems with seeking approvals and rate holds on properties that a buyer may not be able to take possession of for months. We will have to wait and see how institutional lenders react; we expect we will soon see the evolution of some new clauses for real estate contracts.
 
We will keep you informed as we get more information. In the meantime, you can read the government’s statement on the issue at the link below: 

https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2024HOUS0115-001044