The Manitoba government is promising new measures to target both negligent rental housing landlords and miscreant tenants. The newly released provincial budget announces pending new policy and legislation to hold landlords accountable for building safety and maintenance, and to make it easier to evict tenants who conduct drug deals or carry weapons in a residential building.

“We’re strengthening tenant rights to ease the affordability pressure on renters, and to provide stability and build long-term confidence in Manitoba’s rental housing market for developers and for landlords,” the budget document states.

It suggests “regular inspections and compliance checks” will be the mechanisms to hold landlords accountable for building upkeep. New flexibility to evict what are described as “problem tenants” is to be contained in legislation scheduled to be tabled this spring “to make families and communities safer”, and is identified as part of package of measures aimed at cracking down on drug-dealing and organized crime.

Also on the safety and security front, the government is expanding upon the rebate for security technology and products it introduced last year, with the allocation of an additional $2 million for qualifying renters and homeowners and $10 million for small to mid-sized businesses. The original version of the rebate provided a rebate of up to $300 per applicant for qualifying purchases.

“With Budget 2024, the program was extremely popular, and the government did multiple intakes, providing support to over 8,500 Manitobans,” the budget document states. “Many Manitoba businesses have been impacted by retail crime and vandalism. We’re saving them money while supporting them to protect their businesses and keep communities safe with an expansion of the popular security rebate program.”