As far as impressions go, the firm that purchased a number of local apartment complexes isn't making a good one.
In fact, Weidner Investment Services Inc., (WIS) the American-based property management group that assumed control of Borden Estates, Carlton Manor, Cedar Village, MGM Apartments, Riverside Apartments and Marquis Towers in December, has made a crystal-clear argument for the need to reform residential tenancy rules in this province.
Further, the company president's claim that residents can avoid a $200 spike in monthly rent by signing a yearly lease to limit increases to $100 is interesting in and of itself.
Some Marquis Towers residents pay around $1,000 in rent already. To those people, a $100 increase is a 10 per cent hike. The $200 rent increase notice given to Stan Wichorek - who pays $685 per month now - is a 29 per cent hike. It's going to be a 14.5 per cent increase if he opts for a lease.
That's pretty substantial. It's far more than the cost of living.
Moreover, it's far more than is allowed in other provinces. B.C. limits rent increases to 3.2 per cent, Manitoba to one per cent, Ontario to 2.1 per cent.
But in Saskatchewan, there is no defined maximum increase set out in the Residential Tenancy Act. Nothing. In fact, the residents of Marquis Towers should consider themselves lucky that the rent increases weren't greater: they could have been. In this, the province from whence the protect-the-people Canadian socialist movement was spawned, there's not a single line of legal protection on the amount of a rent increase.
Owners of apartment complexes aren't in the business of owning apartment complexes to provide affordable housing. They're in the business to make money - as much as possible, naturally. Hence, they will charge what they can, and as long as people scrimp and save to afford the rents, the rents will remain high - or keep increasing. But at what cost?
Three months ago, a number of low-cost renters in Moose Jaw faced an eerily similar situation: a large-scale property magnate purchased a number of apartments used by those on fixed or limited incomes. Instantly, a six-month notice of three-digit rent increases followed. That's left several dozen people wondering where they will live.
We've seen enough of these stories to get the sense that affordable rental accommodation is rare in this city, and disappearing fast. In the last two years, the average apartment rental has increased by hundreds of dollars, vastly more than the cost of living.
And until the province lays down some reasonable limits on rent increases, we'll keep seeing these astronomical spikes in rents.
The time has come for action, and we wonder why the province has failed to act thus far.
