Vacancy control is a form of rent control that is linked to a unit rather than a tenant – meaning that a landlord would be restricted in the amount they could raise the rent between tenancies. As of 2019, rent control has been capped at the inflation rate, set at 2.5%, which means BC landlords can only raise rents by 2.5% for sitting tenants.

Currently, landlords may raise the rent by however much they wish between rental leases, which has prompted calls for a vacancy control system tying rental increase caps to the unit.

Under the new proposal, should a tenant occupying a unit move out, the landlord will not be able to increase the rent back up to market value. This means that if a tenant has been renting a 2-bed unit for 12 years at $800 per month and decides to move out. The landlord won’t be able to increase the rent to what today’s rental market calls for ($2,000 per month), depending on the location.

In my opinion, this legislation won’t be passed, but if it was to pass, landlords who don’t typically raise their rent to keep up with inflation will have no choice but to do so because, long-term, they will never be able to get the rent back up to market value. It would decentivize landlords to maintain the units properly and would ultimately be the death knell for future rental home construction.