（加西网综合）根据 BC 省府的规定，2023 年房屋租金的上涨幅度上限为 2%，尽管这一限制让很多房东感到不满，但仍然需要所有房东来遵守。
但是最近发生在素里的一个公寓楼的事情，则让很多租客感到震惊、悲伤和气愤！
租客选择：接受涨租 40%或房屋出售租客搬走
这座位于北素里 120 街与 80 街交界的租赁公寓楼大约有 72 个租户。最近大约有 30 个租户都收到上涨房租的通知，这个涨幅不是 2%，也不是传统意义上的个位数涨幅，而是高达 40%！
据称 4月下旬， Winsome Place Apartments 大约一半的住户收到了业主的来信，要求他们同意涨租高达40%。
在那里住了 21 年的 70 岁居民 Linda de Gonzalez 告诉媒体，这些收到涨租通知的住户中有不少老年人。
而另一名老人——也正是 Linda de Gonzalez 的邻居 Rod Hill 说起这事儿来甚至伤心落泪……
Shock and dismay: Surry B.C. renters
Linda De Gonzalez 是自从 2002 年以来一直在这里租住生活的。
她每月有养老金 2100 元收入，目前她的两居室租赁公寓租金为 1,014 元，这个租金水平确实便宜，甚至远低于加拿大联邦政府住房机构 CMHC 对该地区此类单元的租金中位数 1,446 元。
但在 4 月下旬，Linda de Gonzalez 和她近一半的邻居都收到了房东的通知。信中，房东称，由于成本不断增加，所有的租客必须支付更多的费用。
Linda de Gonzalez 收到的通知是要求她的租金上涨到 1,450 元——涨幅 42%。
信中写道：如果租客未达成协议，我们可能会在 2023 年 7 月 1 日尽快将您的套房投放市场出售。如果您所住套房的购买者想搬入套房，您可能会收到他们的搬出通知。
信中指出，Winsome Place 实际上是共管物业的产权。按照房东的说法，只要他们愿意，甚至可以随时出售房屋。
Rod Hill 的租金也将上涨 40%。他目前每月支付 1,028 元，他收到的通知同样是租金将增加到每月 1,450 元。
他说自己和 Linda 一样，都是依靠每月 2200 元的养老金生活的老人，如果房租上涨 400 元，他将无力负担其他水电费、电话费等。虽然自己也有孩子，可以和他们一起生活，但他不希望给孩子带来负担。
物业可出售 房东不违法
事实上，这座公寓楼为共管物业，可以上市交易，但在过去较长时间里一直以租赁公寓的形式运营。
租户资源和咨询中心（Tenants Resource and Advisory Centre）的律师 Robert Patterson 表示，在这种情况下，没有迹象表明房东在做任何违法的事情，该中心正在为租户提供建议。
Patterson 说房东的这些要求通常伴随着如果房客不同意的后果警告：要么房子被卖掉，新的业主自己搬进去，或者更常见的是，房东可以把他们自己的家人搬到那里。
律师 Patterson 表示，他自己从未见过像 Winsome 那样完全分层可销售的建筑像出租建筑一样运营。
虽然房东的做法十分激进，但这可能更直接，房东可能更容易实际出售这些单元，一旦公寓被卖给其他业主、并且想住进来，租户可能会面临被迫搬离、失去租约。
Linda De Gonzalez 告诉媒体记者，这座建筑建成于 1995 年，当时就是共管销售的物业，但由于当时的建筑商无法出售这些套房，所以他们向素里市政府申请了许可，出租了这些套房，并从那以后一直处于租赁状态，这一建筑中没有任何单元曾经被出售过。
对于 Winsome Place 的居民，这封信要求他们在 5 月 10 日之前做出回应，如果业主届时没有收到回复，他们的套房可能会在 7 月 1 日上市。
一些媒体也联络了业主房东，但都未得到回应。
BC 住房厅表示，住宅租赁处正在在与房东联系，以收集更多信息，确保他们了解《住宅租赁法》规定的义务。
大家觉得房东的行为合理吗？
- 租客一直在占房东的大便宜，可是所有东西大涨比如：利息，地税管理费，水电费等没有不涨的，房东已经承受不了，租客又不加钱，房东逼的只能卖房子，租客付不起房费应找政府，不应欺诈房东，房东也需要养家糊口。
- Robin_Leu @ 6小时前房屋租赁是赋予租客使用权的有限制授权，而不是物业产权和处置权。在租霸法的挑拨下，很多租客以为自己至少拥有部分的物业所有权和完整的使用权。完全不顾及真正的产权所有人的权利。
- XianSheng11 @ 5小时前
- 政府就只是限制房东涨房租，但是不限制任何别的东西涨价。房东在自己入不敷出的情况下当然只好卖房。
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- Hathaway @ 4小时前
房东和租客都是受害者。是土豆的恶性通胀，导致了今天房东租客之间的底层互害。 这几年政府的地税水电气利 ...
“她每月有养老金 2100 元收入，目前她的两居室租赁公寓租金为 1,014 元……”, 别乱抱怨了, 她和他两位老人家每月都各有2100元的养老金已是非常不错的收入了, 如果她/他年轻时有多存些钱买间公寓或积累些养老金, 那现在每人每月2100元的收入应该可以过着很好的退休生活!! 国家没有义务养活你一辈子, 既然两人都是各自租赁着两房居室, 为何不考虑合租一单位, 或选择其它便宜的一居室公寓?
善先生 @ 4小时前
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Winsome Place residents Rod Hill and Linda de Gonzalez both received letters telling them they need to agree to a 40 per cent rent increase or their home could be sold. Global NewsRenters in Surrey, B.C., are wondering where they are going to live if they do not agree to a massive rent hike from the owner of their building.
In late April, about half of the residents at Winsome Place Apartments received a letter from the owner asking them to agree to a rent increase of as much as 40 per cent.
“There are several seniors in this group,” resident Linda de Gonzalez, who has lived there for 21 years, told Global News.
“The group is nearly half of the tenants in this building. Thirty tenants received the notice and there is, I think, 72 apartments in this building.
“Shock and dismay doesn’t even begin to… I was devastated.”
De Gonzales is currently paying $1,014 a month for her suite, which she said she knows is below market average but the owner wants to raise it to $1,450 immediately.
She said she gets about $2,100 a month from her pension. “I don’t know how I can pay this,” she added. “I would probably have to go to the food bank, I don’t know.”
According to the letter, the owner states rising operating costs as the motivation behind the rent increases.
“I can appreciate that,” de Gonzalez said, “but a $450 rise? Who’s had a $450 a month raise?”
“$1,400 doesn’t leave me enough to eat. It doesn’t leave me enough to live on.”
Vancouver couple’s rent boosted after arrival of babyThe building was built in 1995 and was strata-titled at the time. De Gonzalez said the builder at the time couldn’t sell the suites, so he got permission from the City of Surrey to rent the suites and they have all been rented ever since. No unit in the building has ever been sold.
Resident Rod Hill is also facing a 40-per cent increase in his rent. He currently pays $1,028 a month and his letter stated the rent would increase to $1,450 a month.
“I’m a pensioner, I’m not different from Linda,” he said. “I think I have about $2,200 from my pension and I can’t afford to spend about $400. I don’t have any debts but just my main expenses: hydro, phone, rent, etc.
“There’s no way I can come up with an extra $400.”
Hill said he does have kids he could go and live with but he likes living on his own and he doesn’t want to burden them, he added, breaking down into tears.
“We’re all stressed,” de Gonzalez said. “We’re not sleeping.”
Hill said all the neighbours are awesome and have come together to form a community so he doesn’t want to leave his home.
Vancouver still most expensive rental city in countryRobert Patterson, a lawyer and tenant advocate with the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre, told Global News there is nothing illegal that the owner is doing.
“A landlord is allowed to ask a tenant if they will agree to an above-guideline rent increase and a landlord is allowed to sell their building,” he told Global News.
Patterson said for many landlords and many tenants, this kind of threat does not make sense for a tenant living in a rental market building. He said it is zoned for one plot of land so a landlord could have a hard time selling a single building to someone wanting to occupy the entire building.
“But where a landlord can sell individual units, to individual owners who may want to occupy, the threat that those owners might buy those units and then try and evict the tenants for their own use, is significantly higher,” Patterson added.
He said if the tenant and landlord agree in writing to a rent increase that is outside the provincially-regulated rental yearly increase then that agreement is allowed to stand under the current tenancy laws.
“A higher than allowable percentage is permitted if the parties agree,” Patterson explained. “I think this example shows that by allowing that freedom of contract on that percentage, it opens the door to these kinds of cases where landlords will try and put improper pressure on tenants to try and agree to those higher increases.”
Patterson said it is common for them to hear stories from renters about landlords “threatening” renters to agree to a high increase, otherwise the landlord says they will move in a family member, which is allowed under the current Residential Tenancy Act.
Could ‘vacancy control’ help solve B.C.’s housing crisis?For the Winsome Place residents, the letter asks them to respond by May 10 and if the owner does not hear back by then, their suite may be put on the market on July 1.
Global News reached out to the owner of the building but did not hear back by the time of publication.
De Gonzalez said she has looked into other housing options but wait lists appear to be years long for any housing. They can’t afford to buy their suites and there’s nowhere for them to even go.
She said there is no contact information for the owner in the letter, it is just an email address so they can let the owner know if they agree to the rent increase.
“Any situation like this, they can sell the place, they can do what they want, they’re the owners,” Hill added. “But number one, we’ve got a lease and it says the lease is good for whatever time. And number two, you can’t say to me, ‘Sign this or else we’ll sell your place’, it’s a threat.
“It’s not right, I don’t think.”
