New Brunswick tenants by the hundreds adjust to life under new landlords
CBC
Jaclyn Reinhart has lived with her two children in a three-bedroom duplex on the east side of Saint John since 2018.
It used to belong to a local landlord, but last year the building sold to new owners in Coquitlam, B.C. Last month, Reinhart received notice her lease is being terminated.
"It's one of the most stressful times in my life," said Reinhart. "Out of the, maybe, five stressful times in my life, it's definitely in the top three."
She and her teenage children have been given until the beginning of May to move out to allow for what she has been told will be a $5,000 bathroom renovation to fix a cracked tub and other issues.
Reinhart doesn't believe a renovation that size requires the apartment to be empty.
She suspects it is a manoeuvre to replace her with new tenants who can be charged substantially more rent than the $934 per month plus utilities she currently pays, and without the difficulty raising her rent might entail.
Unlike a new tenant, Reinhart is entitled to six months notice of a rent increase. If she objects to its size, she can request an official review by the Residential Tenancy Tribunal that could see it rejected or imposed in stages over a three-year period.
"I can go stay at a hotel for two days," Reinhart said about the renovation. "I can go to my parents. I can do something for even three days so they can fix it.
"They don't want me here. They want me out."
The property manager for the building confirms the need to fix the bathtub triggered the termination notice, but says there are other issues to be addressed.
"We are not people who are renovicting people," said Bee Ty.
"There's multiple holes in the wall. There's a door frame that's loose that I need a professional [to] come in and do it. So we decided instead of just doing a bathtub and spending $5,000 we may as well have the whole crew go in and do everything."
Ty said she feels awful about removing a tenant and defends the B.C. owner as an amazing person who is doing what makes financial sense for his investment. But she does acknowledge they do want Reinhart and her children out.
"A $5,000 renovation on an undervalued property does not work, so we are renovating the entire apartment and we'll be finding a new tenant or switching to an Airbnb depending on what would be more profitable," she said.
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