B.C. landlords will have the option to raise rent by as much as 3.5 per cent next year.

Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon announced the annual rent increase cap on Monday (Sept. 11), saying the province tried to find a balance between supporting the needs of renters and landlords.

The new cap is a jump up from the two per cent increase the province allowed in 2023, but well below the 5.6 per cent average inflation rate over the last 12 months.

Prior to 2018, B.C. based the rent increase cap on the inflation rate plus two per cent. Since then, a provincial task force on rental housing recommended that increases be reduced to only match the rate of inflation.

The province put a freeze on rental increases in 2020 and 2021, during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then set at 1.5 per cent in 2022.

With 2024鈥檚 increase, special liaison for renters Spencer Chandra Herbert said in a statement that they chose an amount well below the inflation rate to support renters, but higher than in past years to recognize the increasing costs landlords are also facing.

Landlords will have the option to bring the new increase into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

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