The temporary cap holding New Brunswick rent increases to 3.8 per cent will expire at year-end. In its place, the provincial government has introduced amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act that would enable the phase-in of rent increases over a period of up to three years in certain circumstances. As well, tenants will have more time to challenge rent increase notifications and landlords will have to meet new specifications for how such notifications are conveyed.

“The amendments will help tenants adjust to the rising cost of housing and inflation that is being experienced not only here in New Brunswick, but throughout Canada,” maintains Jill Green, the Minister of Service New Brunswick.

That includes a new 60-day window for tenants to apply for a Residential Tenancies Tribunal ruling on rent increase notices — doubling the current 30-day period — and criteria for phasing in rent increases. Provided proposed increases keep rents at a level comparable to those charged for similar units in the vicinity, Tribunal members can order that rent increases be phased in over two years if they exceed the consumer price index but are no more than double the CPI rate. Increases that are more than double the CPI rate are to be phased in over three years.

This follows other measures introduced over the past year to reduce tenants’ vulnerability, including; limiting allowable rent increases to once annually; requiring six months’ advance notice for rent increases; and giving the Residential Tenancies Tribunal authority to review proposed rent increases and deny those deemed unreasonable.

“There cannot be last-minute rent increases at the beginning of the new year, as any rent increase for Jan. 1 would need to have been communicated to tenants this past July,” Green observes.

NB ACORN, a group advocating for tenants, had been calling for the continuation of the cap on rent increases — suggesting it should be set at 2 per cent for 2023. It calls the new amendments an “ineffective response” and notes that the neighbouring provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island all have annually set limits on allowable rent increases.

“Rents are going to skyrocket towards even more unaffordable levels in New Brunswick,” predicts NB ACORN’s chair, Nichola Taylor.