A tenants’ rights group says some tenants in New Brunswick are being evicted for apartment renovations – known as renovictions – so landlords can raise rents.
ACORN New Brunswick spokesperson Peter Jongeneelen says there are issues with the rent cap legislation which was adopted last week.
“What we found is that the announcement is very imprecise… and there’s a lot of flaws with this.”
Jongeneelen notes how tenants are being pushed out too easily over general maintenance issues.
“For example, things like changing the countertops or the taps. Any skilled contractor will tell you that you can do this renovation in a matter of hours.”
Jongeneelen says he wants the province to look to British Columbia which puts the onus on landlords to prove tenants need to be evicted for renovations.
ACORN New Brunswick is also calling for rent control to be extended beyond one year to the next two or three years or even made permanent.
