VANCOUVER—Tenant advocates are urging renters in Metro Vancouver to think twice before accepting a buyout offer from a landlord who is trying to “renovict” tenants.

The tactic has become increasingly popular in the region’s extremely tight rental market, where rents have risen by 13 per cent since 2016 and landlords can charge hundreds more when tenants move out.

Building owners who plan to demolish or renovate buildings typically offer tenants between $2,000 to $5,000 to leave voluntarily — and before getting an eviction notice. Landlords who use buyouts say the offers are voluntary and give tenants extra time to search for a new place.

But while eviction notices are stressful and scary for tenants, David Hendry, an organizer with the Vancouver Tenants Union, said buyout offers are “almost more difficult because it’s a lot of pressure put on (tenants).” Jean Swanson, a Vancouver city councillor, has also drawn attention to the buyout issue with a motion that drew dozens of speakers to council this week, and will be debated on Dec. 4.

Some landlords who present buyout offers portray the offer as an alternative to an inevitable eviction. But advocates say tenants who refuse the offer and fight an eviction notice actually have a decent chance of winning the right to stay in their home. A recent Supreme Court judgment has affirmed that landlords cannot end tenancies to renovate if tenants are willing to accommodate the work.

For the tenants in six apartment buildings in New Westminster and Vancouver, it started with hearing their building had been sold to a new owner, and a new management company called VS Rentals would be taking over.

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Then came the buyout offers: a one-time payout of $2,500, plus $500 moving expenses if they left immediately. If the tenants didn’t take the buyout offer, an eviction notice was the next step, because the new owner planned to renovate all the apartments. The tenants were offered the right to return after renovations were complete — but at nearly double the rent.

The stress sent 74-year-old Ida Bartha to the hospital with an attack of vertigo, while Ruth Thompson, also 74, described through tears how “I hardly sleep anymore” since the rumours about “renoviction” and the pressure to move out started a few months ago.

Robert Webster, 68, currently pays $950 a month and has a fixed income of $2,500 a month. The new owners of his building have told him that if he ends his current tenancy, he could move back when the building is renovated and pay $1,700 a month — representing 68 per cent of his income. The cheapest apartment he was able to find listed for rent in New Westminster was $1,400.

Meanwhile, Thompson makes just $1,600 a month, not enough to cover the new rent amount.

“Can they just throw me out? I don’t want to be evicted. I’m scared,” confessed Thompson, adding she doesn’t have a clear idea of what her landlord is allowed to do.

The New Westminster rental buildings Bartha, Webster and Thompson live in are part of a large-scale eviction attempt the Vancouver Tenants Union has been helping tenants to fight. All the buildings are managed by VS Rentals, which corporate records show shares a business address with a property developer called Coltric Properties. Through a holding company, Coltric owns both the buildings Webster, Bartha and Thompson live in, according to land title and corporate records.

Reached by telephone at VS Rentals’ business address, an employee confirmed the company had received StarMetro’s detailed list of questions, but declined to comment for this story.

The company has since told Postmedia it will change its business practices and allow tenants to stay while the building is being renovated, or move back in. But tenants StarMetro spoke to said they had not heard from the company about that, and new buyout offers had been put through their doors earlier in the week. Reached by telephone on Thursday, the company would not confirm the information published by Postmedia.

VTU organizers and tenants rallied outside of VS Rentals’ offices on Nov. 9; around the same time, the company removed its website from the internet. A list of buildings collected from that website by the VTU before it disappeared includes six in Vancouver, eight in New Westminster and one in Coquitlam.

The plight of vulnerable renters like Thompson, Bartha and Webster in Metro Vancouver’s tight rental market has spurred a provincial government review, while several municipal governments are also looking to step up protections for renters.

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Meanwhile, a recent Supreme Court ruling found that a landlord should not necessarily have to end a tenancy in order to renovate when the tenant is willing to accommodate the renovation. That decision, which is now under appeal, resulted in a provincial government guidance in May to the Residential Tenancy Branch. Since May, RTB arbitrators have frequently cited the guidance in decisions that have denied landlords’ attempts to end tenancies in order to renovate.

Lorna Allen and Sarah Mayer are two of just three tenants who remain in their West End building on Burnaby St. After refusing a $2,000 buyout from VS Rentals, Allen and Mayer got an eviction notice, which they disputed at the Residential Tenancy Branch. The arbitrator ruled in their favour, and cited the Supreme Court guidance, saying that “the landlord has failed to provide sufficient evidence that the (renovation) work, although ‘extensive,’ cannot be achieved through proper planning and scheduling.”

Allen and Mayer’s elation was short-lived, however, because they have now received a second eviction notice from VS Rentals.

The mayors of New Westminster and Vancouver say they are both planning to step up efforts to help support tenants. Jonathan Cote, Mayor of New Westminster, said city staff try to reach out to tenants when they hear a building has changed hands to let tenants know what their rights are. Cote said his council will be doing more work on tenant protection in the coming months.

While Vancouver’s previous city council had already approved hiring a social planner position to assist renters, Mayor Kennedy Stewart would like to explore whether the city could also hire a legal expert.

“I’ve seen folks, they’re given documents to sign that actually extinguishes their rights, but it’s not explained to them in that way — and that’s really the problem,” Stewart said.

Kevin Love, the lawyer who argued the Supreme Court case, said the ruling was a reminder to landlords: “The criteria in the act have been there for a long time, and this is not the first case that has said when ending the tenancy isn’t necessary, you shouldn’t end the tenancy.”

It’s also a reminder to tenants, Love added: “They do have rights and they don’t have to give up.”

LandlordBC is hoping the Supreme Court ruling will be reversed; the industry group said many apartment buildings in B.C. are aging and need extensive renovations.

“LandlordBC is of the view that tenants shouldn’t be able to make offers (to accommodate renovations) after being served a notice,” David Hutniak, CEO of LandlordBC, wrote in an email, “because just as a tenant who is served with an eviction for nonpayment of rent cannot offer to pay rent at the dispute resolution hearing, similarly, tenants shouldn’t be able to offer to vacate.”

Thompson is hopeful that with the help of the Vancouver Tenants Union, she and her neighbours will be able to stay. But she’s still terrified of losing her home, and as Allen and Mayer’s experience shows, tenants who fight renoviction attempts may still have a long fight ahead of them.

“I hope I don’t get stuck at the end and have them say, ‘You have to get out,’” Thompson said.

“Where do I go from there?”

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