Renters swallow upgrade costs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/02/2025 (236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RYAN Simmons believes he pays too much rent.

The monthly amount he paid for his bachelor suite at 33 Kennedy St. increased marginally for 10 years. It was higher during years in which the roof underwent major repairs or the boiler was replaced. That’s allowed under Manitoba’s rental guidelines, which affect apartments such as his, which is older than 20 years and costs less than $1,640 a month.

However, Simmons said rent increases jumped when Sussex Realty bought the building two years ago.

He said his rent has nearly doubled, to $951 from $556, since Jan. 1, 2023, owing to minor repairs, light fixture replacements and unnecessary kitchen renovations.

“It seems like (Sussex) really looks for every single little thing they can to justify an increase, even though the previous infrastructure was working fine,” he said Tuesday. “People who actually live here, who know what the issues are, aren’t asked whatsoever if things are necessary.”

Simmons wants the provincial government to reintroduce legislation to protect tenants and keep rental housing affordable.

A report titled “From Repairs to Rent Hikes: Tenant Perspectives on Above-Guideline Rent Increases in West Broadway” outlines concerns about Manitoba’s rent guidelines, including loopholes that allow landlords to raise rent above the annual amount pegged by the government. The document was released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Wednesday.

In Manitoba, the rent increase guideline for 2025 is 1.7 per cent. It was three per cent last year and zero per cent (a freeze) in 2023 and 2022. The guideline doesn’t apply to many units, including social housing. Landlords must apply for increases above the guideline.

The report released Wednesday notes that almost 60,000 units were approved for increases higher than the rent guideline from 2019 to 2021. The average approved increase was 10.8 per cent in 2019; 11.65 per cent in 2020 and 10.3 per cent in 2021, the report said.

“This study finds that landlords use above-guideline increases to raise rents… through repairs and upgrades. Above-guideline rent increases blur the line between a landlord’s responsibility to maintain their buildings and the additional costs they foist onto tenants. Renters have no say in the changes that happen to their homes and are forced to pay for these changes in perpetuity,” the report said.

Landlords apply to the residential tenancies branch and claim operating and capital expense increases that are over the annual guideline to justify the extra rent.

Renters such as Simmons say if their rent keeps increasing, they’ll have to make tough budget decisions.

“I’ll have to look at everything. That’s a huge increase for somebody,” he said.

Sussex did not respond to a request for comment.

Yutaka Dirks, a spokesperson for the Right to Housing Coalition, is calling for the province to reintroduce Bill 26, which proposed steps towards limiting above guideline increases through changes to the Residential Tenancies Act.

Reducing a landlord’s ability to claim increases in operating costs in applications and limiting eligible capital expenses would help to eliminate the extra increases, the legislation proposed. The bill did not make it past committee in the fall 2024 session.

“This affects the rental market as a whole,” Dirks said. “If rents are jumping by 10 or 20 or 30 per cent that means suddenly those units are that much more expensive. Then the next tenant who is looking for a place to live has fewer options that are renting for reasonable rates they can afford.”

The coalition wants the province to remove rent-based exemptions on new and high-rent units so all units are protected by rent regulations.

The Winnipeg group has launched a campaign to encourage Manitobans to send Valentine’s Day cards to the province calling on it to ‘Have a Heart! Legislate Fair Rents for Tenants Now!”

Simmons says while the country is going through a cost-of-living crisis Manitoba is still a relatively affordable place to live, but that could change if legislation is not enacted.

“The cost of everything has gone up, and we’re just kind of allowing the landlords to, you know, continually jack up the rent on their tenants,” he said. “It feels very unjust.”

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Tenant Perspectives on Above-Guideline Rent Increases in West Broadway