Proposed law would support P.E.I. tenants facing condo conversions

A private member's bill that would provide more rights and protections for tenants whose apartments are converted into condos got a boost Wednesday from a housing advocacy group — and from a tenant who's gone through the conversion process.

Kim Mears spoke at the the standing committee on health and social development as part of its review of Bill 122, the Rental Property Conversion Act, introduced during the last legislative sitting by Liberal MLA Gord McNeilly. The legislation has not yet been voted into law.  

Mears said she was unexpectedly notified by her landlord in May 2023 that her apartment building at Waterview Heights, owned at the time by CAPREIT, would be sold. The next month she was notified the apartments would be converted into condominiums, and she had four days to decide if she wanted to purchase her unit or eventually move out. But she said she was given no information about the potential purchase price for the unit.

"It put all of our housing into jeopardy," Mears said. "We weren't sure what was going to happen next."

She said after she moved out she saw one of the units from her old building listed on a property management website — at twice the rent she used to pay.

Mears suggested to the committee that language be added to Bill 122 to clarify that rent increases beyond the allowable maximums set by the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission are illegal, regardless of whether the unit is listed as an apartment or a condominium.

"If it has a rental history, it should follow that rental history," she said. "And just because it's called a condo and not an apartment now is semantics and wording, and the past rental history should be honoured and follow the IRAC-allowed rental increases."

CBC News has reached out to CAPREIT, or the Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust, for comment but has not received a response.

Bill would give tenants more time, says sponsor

Ryan MacRae, a volunteer with the advocacy group P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing, told the committee members that government should have right of first refusal to purchase a rental unit if it gets converted into a condominium. He said the province should also prohibit those conversions if the vacancy rate is below a certain threshold.

P.E.I.'s vacancy rate is currently 0.8 per cent, the lowest in the country.

"We need to focus on policy and legislation that is going to protect tenants and protect... their units, give them security, protect them from evictions, and maintain affordability for them as well," he said.

MacRae said there is currently no legal requirement on P.E.I. for landlords to notify tenants that their unit will be turned into a condo.

McNeilly's proposed bill would require landlords to give tenants three months notice before a conversion takes place, and also to offer them a 12-month lease extension that would kick in after the conversion.

"Bill 122 would give tenants more time," McNeilly said. "It would allow them the first right of refusal to purchase that [condominium unit] under a certain amount of time, and just provide a set playing field."

The bill would also allow government to set out regulations to limit or prohibit condo conversions under particular circumstances. The act would include penalties of up to $5,000 for individuals and $25,000 for corporations.

The committee is expected to report back to the legislature on the bill, at which point McNeilly said he hopes the Progressive Conservative majority in the legislature will support it.