Rent Increase

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Originally Posted by Baxter Renegade

I don't know about that... 1390 for a rental property in Calgary is still on the low end. I've been looking to rent a slightly larger space, and the rates are ridiculous.

This of course depends on the individual space, but even a dumpy basement sweet for $750 nowadays is pretty hard to come by.

I guess that is true. I'm about to rent my 2 bedroom for $1700, so I guess it's not a surprise.

[puckluck2]

Dumpy basement suites in Forest lawn are going for $1100 and there's lineups.

As others have mentioned 1390 is still good and the increase is because of how low the rent was before. $750 barely gets you a bachelor suite nowadays.

[Baxter Renegade]

Originally Posted by fotze

These rents seem insane. I've been thinking of buying what I have moving in and renting out the current. What would a 2000 sq ft Richmond/Killarney 3 bed 3 bath attached house in with finished basement rent for? Is there a market for full houses?

Yes, theres a market for 3 bed, 3 bath homes in a nice neighborhood. Id start asking around 50,000 per month.

[photon]

http://www.rentfaster.ca/calgary-hou...-home-in-37514

[opendoor]

Weird, I never knew Alberta didn't have any kind of rent control. In BC (and other provinces) there are limits about how much you can raise a tenant's rent even if on a fixed term lease. There's little to no enforcement if you raise it when switching from one tenant to another, but I just had to give 3 months notice to raise the rent the maximum of 2% on a current tenant.

[puckluck2]

2%? Am I reading that right?

[photon]

Originally Posted by opendoor

Weird, I never knew Alberta didn't have any kind of rent control. In BC (and other provinces) there are limits about how much you can raise a tenant's rent even if on a fixed term lease. There's little to no enforcement if you raise it when switching from one tenant to another, but I just had to give 3 months notice to raise the rent the maximum of 2% on a current tenant.

Yeah Alberta courts can seem very tenant slanted, but after talking to owners from other provinces there's no way I'd own property in some of the other provinces, makes Alberta seem like the wild wild west.

[TjRhythmic]

Originally Posted by opendoor

Weird, I never knew Alberta didn't have any kind of rent control. In BC (and other provinces) there are limits about how much you can raise a tenant's rent even if on a fixed term lease. There's little to no enforcement if you raise it when switching from one tenant to another, but I just had to give 3 months notice to raise the rent the maximum of 2% on a current tenant.

I thought it was 4%? Might be 2% though.

I had a one bedroom in English Bay and I started at $850, after about 7 years I was paying $930... Rent control is awesome.

I didn't know about the notice, granted, I didn't really pay attention... I was just happy paying, at the time, about $200 a month below market.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Kryzsky

No mention of switching to month-to-month, fixed term from Mar 1st to May 31st.

Yep, can't really complain. The money I saved over the years helped me pay off student loans, other debt and start saving a bit.

They have a 1 year lease ready, they're just getting what they can out of the property, everything comparable is right in that range or even higher.

I briefly thought about moving but I've been in the Marda Loop/Bankview area for over 10 years and I like it here. I like my setup, living arrangements and parking, etc. Plan was to stay here until I have that down payment saved up. Need to speed up that plan now.

Question: Why not try to renegotiate with them? Ask them for a 1325 rent and discuss the idea that you can give them something value added that's not covered by a management company.
It's risky though. Others would potentially be fighting tooth and claw to take your spot at that price point.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by TjRhythmic

I thought it was 4%? Might be 2% though.

It's based on the rate of inflation plus a small inflator. So in most years it has generally been around 4% but for 2014 it's 2.2%.

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah Alberta courts can seem very tenant slanted, but after talking to owners from other provinces there's no way I'd own property in some of the other provinces, makes Alberta seem like the wild wild west.

It's not so bad. To be honest having been both a renter and a landlord in my life I prefer to have some form of rent control in place. There's no enforcement when you change tenants, so when someone moves out you can raise the rent to market value. The only time it really becomes a burden is with really long term tenants and those ones in my experience have been less hassle so I'll happily take the small hit if it means fewer issues.

I mean, without any form of rent control couldn't you effectively evict anyone without cause simply by raising their rent to something ridiculous so they'll leave? I guess that ability isn't really a bad thing from a landlord's perspective, but it does seem to kind of skirt the whole eviction process that's in place.

Really though, I've started to do what you mentioned above where you have shorter term leases that don't renew automatically or go month to month at the end. Any half decent tenant will get a new lease or a month to month agreement and the bad ones can be kicked out quite easily when the lease expires.

[photon]

Originally Posted by opendoor

I mean, without any form of rent control couldn't you effectively evict anyone without cause simply by raising their rent to something ridiculous so they'll leave? I guess that ability isn't really a bad thing from a landlord's perspective, but it does seem to kind of skirt the whole eviction process that's in place.

In theory yeah but I believe I read that the courts would be very harsh on such an action, and since the courts tend to favour the tenant and telling if a rent is near market value is pretty easy I'd figure it would be hard to get away with.

Though tenants in general seem to be pretty oblivious in Alberta too, I see landlords get away with all kinds of terrible crap, so who knows.

And what you say is true, if I have a good tenant I'll probably keep their increases lower anyway if do them at all (I've had too many times when a good tenant moved because of a completely reasonable increase, even though I agonized over it and kept the increase to well below market).

The impact of a bad tenant outweighs the benefit from a rental increase by orders of magnitude

[Engine09]

Thanks for the info and advice guys, appreciate it. I thought the 3 month written notice wording was clear, I see now it only applies during a current lease. I actually did go back and forth with them a few times, the last conversation got me down $10 from $1400 to $1390. Yep!

Well, this is certainly motivation to save every dollar I can for that down payment. I don't see any spending or vacations in my future.

[East Coast Flame]

Thought this thread would be appropriate to bump regarding a rent increase question.

My lease is coming to an end on June 1st, and according to our lease after that it switches to a month-to-month.

Last year when we re-signed our lease, our landlord told us rent would be going up the next time we re-signed (so June 1st this year), but didn't tell us any specific numbers.

As it is now coming to the end of April, we have yet to hear anything from him regarding the increase, or re-signing the lease. We sent him a text and an email last week reminding him, but no word.

So my question is, at this point can he raise our rent on June 1st? Does him telling us last year (only verbally) that rent would be increasing count as notice?

Ideal situation would be for us to stay, as we love our place. But with all the units available out there I wouldn't be too worried about moving.

My main problem is that we pass the deadline where we can give our one month notice to leave (End of April) and he comes back mid May telling us the increase for June.

If he does tell us the increase, are we in the rights to tell him we will go month-to-month at our current rent for the next 3 months and then give our notice to leave?

[polak]

Nvm

[TheyCallMeBruce]

My understanding is that the landlord has to give you a written notice of increase, dated and signed by him/her. This includes the time of increase and the amount. If you didn't receive anything, then I wouldn't worry about it.

[polak]

Yeah he probably realizes that risking you leaving in the current market isn't the best move.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

At the end of your fixed term, if you are required to enter into a new lease agreement, it can be at whatever rate they want to set. It's a new contract that comes into existence as if there were no previous contract.

If he comes to you on June 1, I guess you'd already be into your extension term, at which point the 3 month notice period would apply, but at any time before that, the lease ends when it ends (subject to any other provision that may be in your lease agreement).

As noted, however, rent has dropped with oil prices and I wouldn't think they'd be upping it by any significant at this point.

[combustiblefuel]

Does Alberta have a cap on increase? I don't remember.

This year in B.C. ours is capped off at 2%.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

Does Alberta have a cap on increase? I don't remember.

This year in B.C. ours is capped off at 2%.

Nope. No rent control in AB.

Edit: not sure if post below was directed at me but I meant in relation to increase %.

[Fuzz]

Rent Increases: Notice and Timing
There are no controls on the amount of rent increases in Alberta. Rent can only be increased if there has not been a rent increase within the previous 365 days or since the start of the tenancy, whichever is later. Before the rent can be increased the landlord must give written notice in advance. The specific timeframe is dependent on the term of the tenancy:

• weekly: 12 full tenancy weeks
• monthly: 3 full tenancy months
• any other periodic tenancy: 90 days

A notice of increase in rent must indicate the date on which the increase is to be effective and must be dated and signed by the landlord.

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/reh...h/fash_001.cfm