Manitoba Landlords Can Raise The Rent 2.2% in 2019
Are you going to raise the rent in 2019 for your existing tenants?
The 2019 rent increase guideline is only 2.2%. Remember you must give your tenants at least 3 months written notice and rents can only be increased once a year.
December 6th, 2012
What’s the Situation?
A hearing impaired tenant in government housing lives in fear each night.
How Bad Is It?
She says it’s frightening. It’s especially horrifying on week-ends.
Why Doesn’t She Move?
She wants to escape government housing but can’t find any other accommodation.
Where Is She and Why Is She So Scared?
She lives in Manitoba Housing, apartment block at 375 on Assiniboine Ave.
She’s scared because another tenant , Hank Lecoy,was murdered last month in his apartment in the same building.
Was This An Isolated Incident?
No. She says she always sees people fighting in the hallways. It gets worse on weekends. It’s a nightmare.
Is so bad she hides in her apartment during weekends. This isn’t the only example of tenant violence in Manitoba.
How Long Has She Lived There?
She’s lived in the apartment for 3 years now. She trusts her next door neighbours. The apartment doesn’t look so bad.
It’s the lack of proper management and the violence that causes her sleepless nights.
How Much Rent Does She Pay?
Her rent is $285/month. Like all the other tenants here, the rent is paid by the government. She is disabled.
Management either doesn’t know how to evict bad tenants or doesn’t want to. The property is not professionally managed. The government won’t hire a top quality management team to fix the issues.
Tilling says people always sneak in to the building and end up staying with existing tenants. Strangers enter the building regularly.
Have There Been Any Other Tenant Incidents?
Many! A lot of tenant vs. tenant violence.
In October there was a police standoff with an man with a gun.
In 2009 a woman died after being shoved by her then boyfriend. The list goes on.
What is the Government Doing About This?
They are holding meetings. The tenant says these won’t help. And who knows what will happen there next and what the results will be.
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November 12th, 2012
What’s the Fad?
More and more Winnipeggers who have damaged credit and are force to rent are turning to ‘rent-to-own’ housing.
What’s the Down Side?
The down-side is there are rules for ‘rent-to-own’ which will leave some tenants on the outside looking in.
Why Don’t People Want to Continue To Rent?
Most renters would prefer to own their own home. This way they can avoid issues with other tenants.
And?
They can also avoid issues with their landlord.
How Does Rent-To-Own Work?
There is a large group of companies in Winnipeg which offer this package.
Here’s how it works.
The landlord rents out to the tenants. The tenants pay a larger than normal rent. This extra rent is then saved to eventually become the ‘down-payment’ to eventually buy the house from the landlord.
Who Are Their Target Markets?
Rent-to-own houses target tenants who have damaged credit or don’t have enough money to put down a down-payment to purchase a home.
The goal is to help people who couldn’t afford or qualify to won a home an alternative path to do so.
What Happens If You Break the Rent-To-Own Contract?
If the tenants break their leases/contracted they get evicted and lose whatever down-payment they have paid up to that point.
Any Example of This?
One rent-to-own tenan explains how he signed a contract for three years to own a house. He eventually found he couldn’t afford the rent. He lost his down-payment and was evicted.
What Does the Landlord Say?
This tenant’s former landlord said he offered financial counseling to him and only wanted to help. He has to follow the rules otherwise he would be in financial trouble and need help of his own.
Will The Demand For Rent-To-Own Continue?
With vacancy rates low in Winnipeg, as well as a shortage of affordable housing, the demand for rent-to-own homes will continue growing, he added.
And this is likely to spread as other provinces such as Alberta also have a shortage of rental houses.
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