Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[JDMDreams]

God damn I guess I have to finally stoop to getting a CT card now.

[CivicBlues]

Wait is Rogers Bank also a real Bank too? Can I use my Mastercard to pay property tax as well?

[westopher]

They should be quadrupling property tax on homeowners over something like 5 million or whatever value makes sense that it's going to hit wealthy people and not just working people. Or make a piece of shit tax or something that makes guys like chip wilson pay the bulk of the taxes for the city. I don't know, but it's pretty fucked that taxes can be increasing so much, especially due to fuckups in public spending by guys that make 750k a year and get to keep their jobs after the largest cost overrun on a project in B.C. history.

[JDMDreams]

^^^ but would someone think of the old people, we just need to be able to have rents uncapped, market rents

[Hakkaboy]

Originally Posted by blkgsr

can't you already pay hydro and fortis from CC's?

i honestly have no idea as my wife takes care of those lol

Originally Posted by PeanutButter

There are fee's associated.

Fortis:
1.75% on the payment amount - if you use your Mastercard or Visa credit card
0.75% on the payment amount – if you use your Visa debit card

BC Hydro uses Paymentus, i can't seem to find what their fee is without going through a sign up. It's probably around 1-2% though.

correct, if you try to pay thru your credit card directly, they will charge a CC fee. But if you pay using the CT card, it would be like paying for bill payments from your online banking

[PeanutButter]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

Wait is Rogers Bank also a real Bank too? Can I use my Mastercard to pay property tax as well?

Unfortunately, no.

I have the Rogers Mastercard as well. There is no way to add bill payee's like you can with Canadian Tire. Therefore, you can not use the Rogers mastercard to pay property tax or utilities. Canadian Tire is unique in this regard, there is no credit that can do what Canadian Tire does in regards to bill payments.

Rogers Mastercard benefits for those who don't know.
- No Annual Fee
- 3% cashback if you're a Rogers/Fido customer
- Five Free Roam Like Home Days per year

[Mikoyan]

When did this turn into RevSceneDeals?

[Mikoyan]

Originally Posted by Traum

So I paid my (CoV) property tax for myself, and the (BBY) property tax for my MIL just now. I think they're due before July 3? (Gonna be forcing myself to eat nothing but plain bread the next few weeks to psychologically compensate for the wallet hurting...)

What struck me during the paying process was, the amount I was paying seemed much higher than last year, esp for my MIL. So I pulled out the numbers from 2023 for a quick check, and lo and behold:

- my 2024 CoV payment is 12.x% higher than 2023
- MIL's BBY payment is almost 17% higher than 2023

The CoV property tax increase for 2024 was supposed to be 7.5%, and the one for Burnaby was supposed to be 4.5%.

The increase is in the tax rate, not the overall payment. If your property assessment went up, you're paying the new increased rate on the increased assessment value.

[PeanutButter]

Does anyone know what the current benefits are for First Time Home buyers?

My cousin is wanting to buy a place in new west for $700k, are there any immediate things he can do to save him money?

I'm out of the loop.

I know there's the new FHSA, but I think he can only put in $8k and that only helps him reduce his yearly income by $8k? So if he wants to buy something this year, it doesn't help that much.

any info would be great.

edit;
I found this article, seems to be pretty helpful.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/ca/mortga...-home-buyer-bc

[meme405]

Yep. Property tax bill went up in the double digits in coquitlam. 15.8% increase.

part of the increase came from losing the majority of the HOG.

[winson604]

Originally Posted by PeanutButter

There are fee's associated.

Fortis:
1.75% on the payment amount - if you use your Mastercard or Visa credit card
0.75% on the payment amount – if you use your Visa debit card

BC Hydro uses Paymentus, i can't seem to find what their fee is without going through a sign up. It's probably around 1-2% though.

I use Paymentus for Hydro it's 1.75%

[Euro7r]

Need some advice from you guys to determine I am on the right track.

My tenant (couple which are my friends) are renting my suite. When we signed the rental agreement last year in the fall, I kept it straight forward with the RTB agreement (no additional clauses etc.) as they were my friends that I knew, and also were at my wedding. Fast forward to present date, they informed me both their parents will be visiting, and staying with them for 2 months at different times later this year.

My agreement I didn't specify any clause in terms of additional occupants nor rent will vary with additional occupants. My question is, I just fucked myself by not having a clause, and now forced to let them stay free? Just want to know the rights as a landlord as I've not encounter this before. I've asked different people and get different answers (but I feel these are people I've asked trying to take advantage of those that don't know the RTB act).

Thanks guys in advance.

[6thGear.]

Save yourself a headache. Be a good friend and landlord and let it be.

[Euro7r]

Originally Posted by 6thGear.

Save yourself a headache. Be a good friend and landlord and let it be.

I have been, they have been storing things on my yard without asking me. I've turned a blind eye to be that good friend on multiple occasions. I guess they say sometimes it's not the best interest to have friends as tenants or do business with lol.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Euro7r

Need some advice from you guys to determine I am on the right track.

My tenant (couple which are my friends) are renting my suite. When we signed the rental agreement last year in the fall, I kept it straight forward with the RTB agreement (no additional clauses etc.) as they were my friends that I knew, and also were at my wedding. Fast forward to present date, they informed me both their parents will be visiting, and staying with them for 2 months at different times later this year.

My agreement I didn't specify any clause in terms of additional occupants nor rent will vary with additional occupants. My question is, I just fucked myself by not having a clause, and now forced to let them stay free? Just want to know the rights as a landlord as I've not encounter this before. I've asked different people and get different answers (but I feel these are people I've asked trying to take advantage of those that don't know the RTB act).

Thanks guys in advance.

People are considered occupants if your rental unit becomes their primary home.

If they're staying for on/off and then leave, they are are Guests, not Occupants. You can't have a clause against, or charging a fee for having guests.

Storing stuff in your yard comes down to what you described in your tenancy agreement regarding your yard's use. They don't need to ask you if they can store stuff in the yard, if you don't have a clause in your tenancy agreement that prohibits them using the yard.

[Euro7r]

Originally Posted by Great68

People are considered occupants if your rental unit becomes their primary home.

If they're staying for on/off and then leave, they are are Guests, not Occupants. You can't have a clause against, or charging a fee for having guests.

Aren't they considered occupants in this case, such they offered to pay utilities for the parents staying, have keys to the suite, and staying overnight regularly (aka 2 months).

At what point does guest -> occupants? Sorry if this is a newbie question.

[twitchyzero]

a rental is also a home

you're a landlord, not their parents

rtb website has the info you need: some criteria determining occupants: they receive mail, pays rent, brings their pet and furniture in etc

[PeanutButter]

Originally Posted by Euro7r

Need some advice from you guys to determine I am on the right track.

My tenant (couple which are my friends) are renting my suite. When we signed the rental agreement last year in the fall, I kept it straight forward with the RTB agreement (no additional clauses etc.) as they were my friends that I knew, and also were at my wedding. Fast forward to present date, they informed me both their parents will be visiting, and staying with them for 2 months at different times later this year.

My agreement I didn't specify any clause in terms of additional occupants nor rent will vary with additional occupants. My question is, I just fucked myself by not having a clause, and now forced to let them stay free? Just want to know the rights as a landlord as I've not encounter this before. I've asked different people and get different answers (but I feel these are people I've asked trying to take advantage of those that don't know the RTB act).

Thanks guys in advance.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/h...guests-tenancy

You should read this over. (It's not very long)

There's a grey area over a guest vs a tenant. It's not completely black or white, but likely if they're not staying longer than two months at a time, the RTB would not consider them occupants.

You pretty much have to suck it up. But in the future, yes. Never do business with friends or family. Never. That's just something you have to learn through experience.

My advice, don't think you screwed up, take it as a lesson. You're not expected to do things right, you're expected to learn from the things you do. I've been there my friend, just keep rolling (easier said than done, I know). If you're anything like me, you're probably stressing over it and getting mad and having conversations in your head. Just realize that's just part of the business. Remember, being a landlord is a business, it's not supposed to be easy. Just learn from it and don't forget this lesson. The only problem is that having tenants in this market are like LONG term, so these lessons sting the most.

[Traum]

According to the BC Residential Tenancy Regulations:

https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/d...eg/10_477_2003

Part 1, Section 5 says:

A landlord must not charge a guest fee, whether or not the guest stays overnight.

Furthermore, Part 8, Section 9 says:

9 (1)The landlord must not stop the tenant from having guests under reasonable circumstances in the rental unit.

(2)The landlord must not impose restrictions on guests and must not require or accept any extra charge for daytime visits or overnight accommodation of guests.

(2.1)Despite subsection (2) of this section but subject to section 27 [terminating or restricting services or facilities] of the Act, the landlord may impose reasonable restrictions on guests' use of common areas of the residential property.

(3)If the number of occupants in the rental unit is unreasonable, the landlord may discuss the issue with the tenant and may serve a notice to end a tenancy. Disputes regarding the notice may be resolved by applying for dispute resolution under the Residential Tenancy Act.

Essentially, the RTR gives tenants the right to have guests under reasonable circumstances, and the landlord cannot force the tenant to give up that right even if it is included in the rental contract. Even if you have such a clause in there, when it comes to arbitration with the RTB, the clause would be considered unconscionable and you would lose the dispute. At any rate, having parents stay with your tenant friends seem like a fairly reasonable arrangement, so in a ruling, you would probably lose on that argument as well.

Based on what the RTR says, the only "reasonable" reason you can use to disallow their parents staying is if the total number of occupants in the rental unit is "excessive". But there is no hard and fast rule to determine what is "excessive". IMO, even if it was a 1-bedroom suite, if it is 2 couples living in it, with 2 persons sleeping in the bedroom, and 2 person sleeping in the living room, that would only be "crowded", but not excessively so.

At the end of the day, I don't think there is very much you can do regarding your friend's situation of hosting their parents from the legal side of things. And from the social aspect of things, it would also be beneficial for you to do nothing and just let it happen.

[winson604]

Originally Posted by Euro7r

I have been, they have been storing things on my yard without asking me. I've turned a blind eye to be that good friend on multiple occasions. I guess they say sometimes it's not the best interest to have friends as tenants or do business with lol.

Yea this is why I would never mix the 2. You obviously rented to them because they're good friends and you trusted as friends they would do things that you expect a good friend would do i.e. ask for permission to store stuff before doing so. Now that ship has sailed, you were nice and let it go, what next well now parents staying with them and they didn't ask they informed you it was happening. More stuff will happen and you'll need to make a decision at some point on where to set the boundaries. It's a conversation you didn't expect or wanted to happen but it's going to have to happen at some point. My only advice is have it sooner rather than later. You obviously don't have to be a dick about it, I'm sure you'll be respectful and just be like hey bro can I talk to you about something. That said, expect the unexpected! There's always a chance with friends that no matter how cool you thought they were and how respectful you go about it that they'll flip on you and it gets ugly. Hope its not the case though but you hear stories like this all the time.

[Great68]

Unfortunately the RTA doesn't make a formal line in the sand of when a guest becomes an occupant.

You'd have to approach the RTB and bring your evidence of why you think these people have become "occupants".

They look at considerations like: Have they changed their mailing address to your unit? Have they moved in their furniture and belongings? etc.

Given that they'll be gone in 2 months you might have a tough time making a case. It would probably be a lot of effort for nothing.

If they're offering to pay extra utilitie fees, take that as good will They're not even obligated to do that.

[Euro7r]

Thanks guys for the input. Much appreciated .

[PeanutButter]

Originally Posted by Euro7r

Thanks guys for the input. Much appreciated .

I would take the money for the utilities though.

[6thGear.]

Originally Posted by Euro7r

I have been, they have been storing things on my yard without asking me. I've turned a blind eye to be that good friend on multiple occasions. I guess they say sometimes it's not the best interest to have friends as tenants or do business with lol.

You have to ask yourself when it's time to separate friendship and business. Are they good enough friends to have you let things slide and be ok or have they been taking advantage of you or have they've starting to overstay their welcome?

[FOREVER]

I finally grew some balls and told my tenants that I will be selling the place and etc. Surprisingly they were understanding and even asked what price I had in mind.


AND it's okay Euro7r, I've also learned not to rent out to "close relationship" tenants. Make things a bit rough when talking about more "serious" things