Update: This post was updated on May 5, 2021 after a review of suggested protocols. REALTORS® are encouraged to read the updated version below. Selling a tenant-occupied property is always more complicated than selling an owner-occupied property. Selling a tenant-occupied property during a global pandemic adds another layer of complexity. As a REALTOR®, you have …
With an announcement on July 20, the BC Government is giving landlords and tenants information to help them plan for the near future. The ban on residential evictions for non-payment of rent will be lifted before September 1, which means full rent will be due in September. Repayment plans The government has published a repayment …
By Gerry NeelyB.A. LL.B. A man who took his two sons cycling over a trail on private land was thrown from his bicycle and ended up a quadriplegic, when he hit a metre-deep ditch concealed by a mound of soil. The cyclist sued for damages on the grounds that the owner breached the duty owed …
By Gerry Neely B.A. LL.B Life lease is a term for an alternative residence and ownership arrangement for seniors. The term has been growing in BC over the past ten years because of its appeal to seniors with shared interests and values. The typical arrangement involves a non-profit service club or church sponsoring the construction …
By Gerry NeelyB.A., LL.B. Before the enactment of the Occupiers Liability Act, at common law a landlord renting unfurnished premises owed no duty to his tenant or to any other person entering on those premises. The Act changed the common law to make a landlord who leases unsafe premises liable for damages to person or property, if …
By Gerry NeelyB.A., LL.B. Landlords will have to be as quick off the starting blocks as Linford Christie, in the 100 meters at the Commonwealth games, if they are to retain the benefit of a security deposit for unpaid rent or damages owed by a departing tenant. A section of the Residential Tenancy Act, which is in …
By Gerry NeelyB.A, LL.B. How do amendments to the Human Rights Act (HRA) affect a developer pre-selling strata residential units in an intended adult only development? Amendments to the HRA enlarged the definition of age to include anyone between 19 and 64 years inclusive, and added family status as one of the prohibited discriminatory practices in the …
By Gerry NeelyB.A., LL.B. By the time this is published amendments to the Residential Tenancy Act will have received third reading, but will only become effective by order-in-council. A review of the more interesting amendments follows. Section 27 of the Act gives a landlord the right to terminate the tenancy where the number of persons permanently occupying …
By Gerry Neely B.A. LL.B The Residential Tenancy Branch of the Ministry of Labour and Consumer Services distributes a useful brochure outlining the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants in British Columbia. It lists, for example, the circumstance under which a landlord may gain possession of the property by giving two months’ notice of …
By Gerry Neely B.A. LL.B Normally, the listing agent for the owner of an existing home is unconcerned with set backs or other limitations which would affect the size and location of a home to be constructed upon the lot upon which the home sits. A recent decision may change that when the listing salesperson …
By Gerry Neely B.A. LL.B What do the Province of British Columbia, the Municipalities of Enderby and Chilliwack, Hudson’s Bay Company, Safeway, Grouse Nest, Royal Canadian Legion and landlord have in common? They have been sued under the Occupiers Liability Act by someone injured on premises over which they had a responsibility to ensure that …
By Gerry NeelyB.A. LL.B. Unless you are a property manager and actively involved in residential leases, the oddities of the Residential Tenancies Act, once known to you, may now be forgotten. This could apply particularly to a fixed term house lease, say of 12 months which as everyone knows, automatically expires at the end of the …
By Gerry NeelyB.A. LL.B. Lance lay on the chesterfield, his headache just beginning to respond to his wife’s soothing cool hand on his forehead. The cause of his headache – a three-day trial and a judgment that was a blow to Lance’s pride. You see, Lance thought of himself as an expert in leasing property, …
By Gerry NeelyB.A. LL.B. An arbitrator acting under the provisions of the Residential Tenancy Act has provided reasons for a decision involving the owner of a mobile home in a park, who had listed her home for sale with a real estate company not approved by the landlord. When the tenant had moved her home onto a …
By Gerry NeelyB.A. LL.B. A local Judge of the Supreme Court has decided in a Chambers application, that a landlord who gives notice to a tenant to vacate the landlord’s premises because the landlord intends to occupy them, is entitled to do so even though only part of the premises are to be occupied by …
By Gerry NeelyB.A. LL.B. The amendment to the Residential Tenancies Act (R.T.A.), which allows a vendor, on behalf of a purchaser, to give a Notice of Termination to a tenant before title has been transferred to the purchaser, has cured a problem for the purchaser who requires residential premises for occupancy for himself at the earliest possible …
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