A rental sign is seen outside a building in Ottawa, Thursday, April 30, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

By Derek Craddock

Renters Bill of Rights

More protection on the way for Sask. renters but is it enough?

Apr 10, 2024 | 5:00 PM

It’s a struggle that is crippling Saskatchewan residents of all ages and it doesn’t appear to be getting better: finding an affordable and reliable place to rent.

With rental rates constantly rising and mortgage rules and costs skyrocketing, the federal government has intervened to help remedy the situation.

Last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several cabinet ministers presented the concept of a Renters Bill of Rights, designed to protect renters trying to get into the housing market. This includes protections around “renovictions” and creating a national Standard Lease Agreement. It also looks to change how credit scores are gauged and wants to include rental payment history in those reports.

While the bill is just a draft proposal, it has grabbed the attention of several experts in the housing industry and those who represent landlords in Saskatchewan.

Cameron Choquette is the president of the Saskatchewan Landlords Association. He said the bill has many important details and covers issues renters face but it lacks some key information.

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“The devil’s in the details and I think it lacked a lot of details,” he said.

One of the important details he wants more clarity on is how the federal government intends to implement the nationwide Standard Lease Agreement because each province already has its own Residential Tenancies Act, meaning the governing law for each province is different.

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He also had questions surrounding credit scores reporting rental history. He said his association has had that practice in place for the past few years with different companies and while he agrees it’s great to reward renters for their good payment history, it still won’t help those trying to own a home.

“Even if someone gets a credit score lift of 50 to 60 points, that’s not going to solve the barrier into home ownership that exists due to significantly high prices and the cost of mortgage and the stress test rules, but it is another small tool in the toolbox for renters to improve their financial standing,” he said.

Aside from tough mortgage rules and high interest rates deterring many from owning a house in Canada, one expert said another glaring issue is supply and demand.

A Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report on housing supply released last Wednesday said new home construction is at an all-time high but demand for rental housing is still outpacing supply.

As of October of last year, the vacancy rates in Prince Albert for a two-bedroom apartment stood at 3.2 per cent with the average rent of those units at $1,026, below the provincial average.

North Battleford’s apartment vacancy rate for the same two-bedroom units is only 1.6 per cent with average rents at $950.

Dr. Mandy Hansen is the Principal at Insight Consulting Strategies, a firm specializing in real estate strategy, project management, and management consulting. She said the country does not have a steady supply of homes and this new Bill of Rights could exacerbate the problem and further reduce supply entering the marketplace.

She said she’s not surprised the federal government has stepped in with this proposal, adding there’s an imbalance between the power that renters have versus their landlords and the lack of competition fundamentally drives it.

“If tenants could vote with their feet and landlords had to compete for the best tenants, then we really wouldn’t need a tenants’ bill of rights because the tenants would have the rights as dictated by the marketplace,” she said. “The fact that we have that imbalance means that tenants are on the losing side of that power struggle.”

The Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights would also need partnerships with provinces and territories to require landlords to disclose a history of unit pricing, something that is already done in B.C. where Hansen works.

Unfortunately, she said, it has made no difference and questions how the government can validate and properly report that.

“If you don’t like this price, move aside, there are many others, so that won’t have a lot of impact,” she said. “It’s not something the federal government can just independently and unilaterally require.”

More details on the Renters’ Bill of Rights are expected to come out after the federal budget is released on April 16.

–With files from The Canadian Press

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com