N.S. To Make Announcement On ‘Protections For Renters’
HALIFAX – The province’s municipal affairs and housing minister, Chuck Porter, will be making an announcement on Wednesday regarding the protection of renters in the province. The media release, sent out this evening, gives no details on what to expect from the announcement.
There have been province-wide calls for rent control in Nova Scotia, and the demands have been getting louder over recent weeks in Halifax. The city has historically low vacancy rates right now, and many landlords have been increasing rents.
One case that has been used to highlight the problem is that of Gracie Fogarty, who got a notice that her rent will be increasing by $650 when her lease is up for renewal in April. Her story caused others to come forward with their eviction nightmares as well.
“Some people have come in (to my work) and said their rent has jumped by hundreds and the costumers tell me how sorry they are that this is happening,” said Fogarty.
“I tell them not to worry – the worst thing that can happen is I’ll be living on the street…Right now, I’m totally petrified of being homeless, even though I work.”
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Fogarty’s landlord, Navid Saberi, admitted that he was upping rent in order to force her to move. According to Saberi, the apartment building is in desperate need of renovations and he needed tenants to move to complete the repairs and upgrades. Fogarty refused to move, so Saberi nearly doubled her rent.
“We have a 60-year-old building…and several units require upgrades…We have been working with these people for two years, trying to give them enough notice that we want to renovate, and they should find other accommodations,” said Saberi. “Unfortunately, they are not doing that, and we have offered to move them to other units in the building and they have refused.”
One group that has been calling for rent control is the Dalhousie Legal Aid Service. The non-profit receives about 1,300 calls from people looking for legal advice every year- more than half of which are related to rental issues.
“We’ve been getting multiple calls a week, and we’ve been getting that, not in just the weeks or months, but in the last (few) years,” explained Mark Culligan, who works at Dalhousie Legal Aid. “The last several years in Halifax, the vacancy rate has been extremely low-historically low- and, so, it’s a normal part of the work here at the clinic.”
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When it comes to rent control, there is not much a tenant can do to prevent increases from happening. There is no cap on rent increases in Nova Scotia if the landlord gives four months’ notice before the lease’s anniversary date.
Those who oppose rent control claim that the system doesn’t work, and it forces landlords to forgo repairs and upgrades, which in turn creates slum housing. Culligan argues that, without rent control, bad apartments have already become a big problem in Halifax.
“I would argue that the lack of rent control is allowing landlords to undermine the integrity of the Residential Tenancies Act,” said Culligan.
“We’re years deep into an eviction crisis here. Clearly, the efforts of the province have failed. Clearly, the market has failed to provide affordable housing. So, it’s necessary that major, drastic, steps be taken to regulate the market.”