Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Nenshi stirs up a hornets nest with his landlord gouging comments

opendoor · 10-21-2014, 01:12 PM

I'm surprised there's no type of rent control in Alberta. As far as I'm aware, pretty much every other province in the country has limits on how much you can raise an existing tenant's rent.

I can certainly understand the notion that it's the person's property and they can charge what they want, but in other areas of the tenancy law there's a big distinction between what you can do with an existing tenant vs. a prospective one so it seems odd to me that rent doesn't fall under that too in Alberta. I mean, couldn't a landlord pretty much short circuit the normal eviction process by raising a tenant's rent to an unaffordable level so they'll leave on their own?

Personally, having been both a renter for several years and now a landlord of multiple properties in a province with rent control, I have no problem with limits on rental increases for existing agreements. Market forces (i.e. price to rent ratios) have had an exponentially larger impact on my returns than things like rent increase limits have. On the other hand, the predictability of future housing costs as a renter that came with those rules was invaluable to me.

10-21-2014, 01:12 PM	#101
opendoor Franchise Player Join Date: Apr 2007 Exp:	I'm surprised there's no type of rent control in Alberta. As far as I'm aware, pretty much every other province in the country has limits on how much you can raise an existing tenant's rent. I can certainly understand the notion that it's the person's property and they can charge what they want, but in other areas of the tenancy law there's a big distinction between what you can do with an existing tenant vs. a prospective one so it seems odd to me that rent doesn't fall under that too in Alberta. I mean, couldn't a landlord pretty much short circuit the normal eviction process by raising a tenant's rent to an unaffordable level so they'll leave on their own? Personally, having been both a renter for several years and now a landlord of multiple properties in a province with rent control, I have no problem with limits on rental increases for existing agreements. Market forces (i.e. price to rent ratios) have had an exponentially larger impact on my returns than things like rent increase limits have. On the other hand, the predictability of future housing costs as a renter that came with those rules was invaluable to me.