By Lyonel Doherty
A pensioner says he’ll be on the street if an arbitrator approves a proposed rent increase on a two-bedroom apartment he lives in south of Oliver.
Gregory Ellis is facing a 48 per cent increase, from $675 to $1,000 a month, and he says there is no way he can afford that.
“I’ll be homeless. I cannot pay $1,000 and survive,” said Ellis, who is diabetic and must pay for his own insulin. “They are squeezing pensioners out; the rental situation is absolutely insane.”
Ellis lives in a four-plex on Rabbitbrush Street, which is managed by RE/MAX Wine Capital Realty.
Ellis said he moved to Oliver from Edmonton because of the lower rents. But he left behind Blue Cross that covers his insulin costs in Alberta.
The retired electrician said he worked hard his entire life and is now relying on his Canada Pension Plan to survive. But now he feels he is being gouged.
Ellis noted the former landlord was a nice old lady who looked after her tenants and the building.
But she sold the building to an investor from Vancouver, he pointed out.
“Now we’re lucky to get the lawn mowed,” Ellis said.
Senior property manager Owen Paxton with RE/MAX said this matter is an ongoing arbitration issue, therefore, he can’t comment until it is completed.
“As a property manager we take directive from the owners of the property; as long as it is within the law we are bound to act in their best interest,” Paxton said.
He referred the Chronicle to the Residential Tenancy Branch for information on rent controls.
Under current rules, a landlord must give three months’ notice of a rent increase. The allowable rent increase for 2017 is 3.7 per cent. That jumps to four percent next year. A landlord can increase rent each year up to (but not greater than) the percentage equal to the inflation rate plus two percent.
But Ellis said the property manager in this case is jacking up the rent significantly, far more than 32 per cent that RE/MAX quoted him. He pointed out the higher the rent, the more money the property management company makes.
According to Ellis, the landlord is comparing his two-bedroom unit to other three-bedroom homes and apartments, which is not a fair comparison when trying to figure out market value. He noted his unit does not even have a washer and dryer, only a shared, coin-operated laundry area in the building.
The Oliver Chronicle contacted the Residential Tenancy Branch and explained the situation but did not hear back from the agency by press time Tuesday.
