Raising Rent on a Lease

[JudeS]

I moved into a new apartment last July and the owner asked for 12 months of post-dated cheques.

At the end of the year, no new lease was signed but I was asked again for a year’s worth of pd cheques.

Today, I got the 90 days notice of a rent increase for Jan. 1st 2016.

Since it is assumed that I’m still on a lease by the payment method, can he legally demand that I pay extra starting January or must he wait until July to raise the rent?

[MelM]

Yes - the landlord can raise the rent by giving you 90 days notice. No - he does not have to wait until July. See:

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/reho/yogureho/fash/fash_009.cfm

" When a lease is renewed, unless otherwise agreed, other than the new term of the lease, all other conditions of the lease remain the same with the exception of rent increases. The landlord can raise the rent with 90 days written notice."

[barryprop]

Hi JaneS;

Always nice to see a fellow Kingston ian. Jane there are two things I would like to touch on here. Let’s start with our initial question about rent increases.

(1) Section 119 of the Residential Tenancies Act allows your landlord to increase your rent every minimum of twelve months without opposition. However, there are some rules that come into play.
(A) the biggest one is the your increase can NEVER exceed 2.5% of your current rent. So if your rent is $1000 per month, it can not be raised to $1025.01 after twelve months.

(B) Every year a new rent increase guideline is released for the following year. For 2016 the approved guideline amount is set at 2%. What does this mean? Well, If our $1000 a month rent become $1020 a month, the landlord is within his or her rights and allowed to do so. BUT (big but here) if it is over the guideline amount, say it’s now $1021 a month, you have a legal right to file with your Landlord and Tenant Board and dispute the increase.

Now, about that (2) the demands for post dated cheques. Section 108 of the Residential Tenancies Act strictly prohibits any landlord from asking, demanding, requiring (you get the idea) post dated cheques from a tenant. Actually it prohibits requests for any form of negotiable instrument. What is a negotiable instrument? Money orders, bankers cheques, drafts, anything similar to a cheque, whether immediately or for down the road. A rule exists against requiring only pre authourized debits and electronic payments. As long as you pay on time, you can pay however you wish and are not required to pre-schedule future payments.

Hope this helps

[SettlementOrgMod]

Hello,

Thank you for sharing your question with us.

In terms of increasing the rent, there are some exceptions.

You can find some detailed information on rent increases in our Settlement.Org How often can a landlord increase the rent? article.

Here is an excerpt,

It is important to note that the rent control guideline does not apply to new rental buildings. A new rental building is a building that was occupied as a residential unit for the first time starting November 1991; like a new apartment or condo building or a converted factory that is now an apartment building.

You can find some more information on the Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) website.

Here is an excerpt,

Exceptions

The guideline does not apply to some newer rental housing, for example:

-a unit that was never occupied for any purpose before June 17, 1998, or
-a building that had no one living in it before November 1, 1991.

In these units, there is no limit to how much a landlord can increase the rent. But the 12-month and 90-day rules still apply.

As stated, in these units, there is no limit to how much a landlord can increase the rent.

I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if you have further questions and if there is any follow up to your question/situation.

=====
Anna
Settlement.Org Content and Information/Referral Specialist, CIRS
Settlement.Org