Minister moves to quell rent-cap confusion

The Higgs government tried to clear up growing confusion Thursday over its new rent-cap policy, suggesting some landlords will voluntarily cap rents April 1 even though it won't be legally required for another three months.

Service New Brunswick Minister Mary Wilson, who vocally opposed a rent cap last November, said she expects the policy to work smoothly because most apartment owners will be happy to comply. 

"Most landlords in the province are wonderful," she said in a Zoom call with reporters. "The majority have been very good with their tenants."

Still, Wilson and her department had to undertake some renovations to the government's message after a Wednesday scrum by Premier Blaine Higgs, in which he misstated key elements of the policy.

The cap announced in Tuesday's provincial budget limits rent increases to 3.8 per cent this year and is retroactive to Jan. 1. Tenants might not immediately get back any excess rent they've paid since Jan. 1 because the promised cap still has to be legislated.  

The rent cap is meant to put a lid on headline-grabbing examples of tenants getting rent increases of several hundred dollars.

Higgs said Wednesday that any tenant already hit with a cap-busting increase this year would have to file a complaint to the Residential Tenancies Tribunal. 

"Then there'll be a hearing," he told reporters. "The decision will be based on what we've put in place right now," and the landlord would be ordered to "roll it back." 

But later in the day, Service New Brunswick contacted reporters to "clarify" that tenants themselves should apply the cap, by calculating how much they'd overpaid and deducting it from their next rent payment.

Spokesperson Jennifer Vienneau said "no action is required from the landlord" to begin the process and tenants with questions or concerns should contact the tribunal. 

Liberal finance critic Rob McKee criticized Higgs on Thursday for creating confusion.

"It's just creating chaos in the industry," McKee said. "He's pitting landlords and tenants against each other … letting everyone fend for themselves." 

In her Thursday call with reporters, Wilson said many landlords were already proactively contacting their tenants about the cap, so in many cases tenants wouldn't have to do the math themselves.

But she said the onus was "not necessarily" on landlords to take the lead.