New Prince Rupert Bylaw Seeks to Protect Renters from Unfair Evictions and Poor Conditions

Prince Rupert City Council gave a fourth and final reading to a bylaw designed to protect renters from being unfairly evicted.

It also lays out minimum maintenance standards and highlights changes to licensing requirements.

Under the new bylaw, multi-family facilities being rented will need to acquire a license, while single and two family dwellings, and secondary suites will not.

Regardless of size, all rental units will be subject to a new list of minimum maintenance standards.

Those standards cover everything from basements, foundations, windows and walls, to owner obligations, pest control, and garbage disposal.

It also outlines new steps to stem renovictions, including: requiring landlords to acquire all permits before asking the tenant to vacate, and arranging temporary accommodations while renovations are on-going.

Landlords will also be required to enter in to a new agreement with the tenant prior to renovations, or allow them to return afterwards under the original terms.

Landlords who do not follow the new bylaw’s conditions could earn themselves a find of up to $50,000.

You can view a draft of the full bylaw, beginning on page 38 of the City’s April 25th agenda, linked here.