Office of the Seniors Advocate is urging the provincial government to act quickly and enforce the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA) to protect the 30,000 B.C. seniors in retirement homes from illegal rent increases and evictions. Forgotten Rights: Seniors Not Afforded Equal Rent Protection highlights the practice of many landlords to ignore the RTA and leave seniors facing annual cost increases ranging from the rate of inflation to as much as 24%.
The report makes two recommendations:
- The government take immediate steps to ensure the RTB consistently enforces the RTA in recognizing seniors living rental units are covered by the RTA as are any service fees they pay that are a requirement to rent their unit.
- The government review the practices, capacity and expertise of the RTB to address the issues raised in this report regarding the intimidation and vulnerability many seniors feel when trying to address legitimate residential tenancy issues with both the RTB and landlords.
Read the Report
Read the News Release
Learn about Government’s Response to the Report
View the Slide Deck
View the Livestream Presentation