https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/saint-john-widow-rent-increase-nb-1.6314359
Saint John widow stunned by notice of 74 per cent rent increase
'It's unethical, it's not fair, and it's inhumane,' says Roxane Cormier
"You just can't come in and slap a 74 per cent rent increase on someone who is 66 years old on a pension," Roxanne Cormier said.
"To me, it's unethical, it's not fair, and it's inhumane.".
Cormier lost her husband in October. The couple have rented an apartment in a building on Sussex Drive in Saint John's north end for the last decade and most recently had been paying $775 per month.
In November, a numbered Ontario company set up by a Toronto real estate investor and an Alberta doctor bought the fifty year old, six unit structure for $746,000. That's double what the building sold for in 2011 and nearly double what assessors with Service New Brunswick still value it to be worth.
On Dec. 31, Cormier found an envelope taped to her apartment door with a letter inside informing her of a $575 per month increase in rent effective April 1, even though new rules in New Brunswick require tenants be given six months notice.
"The rent is increasing $575.00 from the current payment of $775.00 to the new rate of $1,350.00 per month," read the letter from the new property manager.
"Thank you for your anticipated cooperation in this matter."
Eve
Panaguiton is a Toronto based real estate investor and deal maker who
was behind the purchase of a six-unit building on Sussex Drive in Saint
John in November. Tenants there have been hit with rent increase
notices of up to 74 per cent. "Landlords make money when they sleep,"
she says on her social media pages. (Eve Panaguiton/Facebook)
Cormier said others got similar notices, including a tenant in her late 80s who has lived in the building for 40 years.
"I got really mad and I thought 'OK, this is unethical'," said Cormier, who called in a complaint about her short notice and the size of her increase to New Brunswick's Residential Tenancies Tribunal.
"I am already seeing someone professionally for grief counselling, so I didn't really need to have this added stress," she said
"Where will I go? I just have CPP, Old Age and my widow's allowance. So it's like, where do I go? I was quite upset."
Sharon Delong is 72 and until recently was a neighbour of Cormier's in the same building. She was wary about what new owners might do and moved out in November after 35 years, just one month before the rent increase was announced..
"I could see the writing on the wall as soon as the place was going up for sale," said Delong, who raised both of her children in the building.
"I got out of there at a good time, but I really feel badly for the other tenants. I mean, this is not right. People are being taken advantage of. This is affecting the people living there all their lives. They're on a limited income and they have this happen. Where do they go? I think something has to be done."
This
building on Sussex Drive in Saint John was built in the late 1960s.
Service New Brunswick assesses it to be worth $396,800 but investors
paid $746,000 for it in November. (Robert Jones / CBC News)
The deal to buy the Sussex Drive building was put together by Toronto investor Eve Panaguiton, who calls herself "Real Estate Eve" and a "BRRRR specialist" (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat) on her social media accounts.
Panaguiton did not respond to attempts to contact her about what is happening with the Saint John property, but in a talk earlier in 2021 posted on YouTube, she said she was "working on buying multiplexes out of town" after raising $7 million from investors in 2020.
Panaguiton acts as a managing partner in purchases by putting properties and buyers together and then splitting profits on deals "50/50."
Mortgage documents show Edmonton resident David Gordon Kirschner partnered with Panaguiton to form the numbered company that now owns the Sussex Drive building. According to Alberta's College of Physicians and Surgeons, a David Gordon Lee Kirschner licensed as an emergency medicine specialist in the Edmonton area.
In New Brunswick, there is no set upper limit on how much rent can be increased by a landlord.
Service
New Brunswick Minister Mary Wilson told the Legislature in November
there is no set amount of a rent increase in New Brunswick that is too
high. "We cannot put a dollar amount on what is reasonable," (CBC News file photo)
"We cannot put a dollar amount on what is reasonable," Wilson said.
However, the tribunal can strike down a rent increase if a tenant files an objection within 30 days and an investigation finds the new amount is above market rates in the area "based on the unit's current condition compared to similar units in the same neighborhood"
According to figures kept by the tribunal, it has had 21 applications for a "revision of a rent increase" since New Brunswick laws were updated on Dec. 17. Seven applications have been successful so far and 14 are still pending.
Rent increases that are denied apply only to the tenant who has objected and not to others in a building who may have gotten similar increases but have not filed an objection.
"The Residential Tenancies Tribunal is only able to review a rental increase if the tenant submits a request," said Jennifer Vienneau, the communications director with Service New Brunswick.
Landlords denied a rent increase can raise the rent by a lesser amount by issuing a new notice.
Cormier's property manager initially disputed she was entitled to six months' notice but has since acknowledged she was right and has agreed to reissue rent increase letters to tenants in the building
Cormier said she would like to see renters receive protections similar to what New Brunswick homeowners have against spikes in their property tax bills.
Without renovations, New Brunswick homeowners cannot be charged property tax on assessment increases above 10 per cent in a single year. Increases above that have to be phased in over multiple years.
"I understand you have to put rent up," she said. "But if it needs to be five hundred more dollars, then you need to do it once a year in increments."
"What about the little person? We have to have some protection."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When the last story about these unfair rent increases I predicted that the right-wing, Conservative government of that province would do NOTHING to help the victims of corporate greed. Has ANYONE seen any evidence of Higgs and company doing ANYTHING?
My original post was just over 12 hours ago, and nobody was able to supply any evidence that Higgs and company are doing anything for the victims of these greedy corporations. Remember that the next time you go to vote in a provincial or federal election.
How obtuse is that statement, how about we lower your wages by 74% , maybe that would aid you to focus.
Higgs ministers say the darnedest things, it’s cute with kids, not so much with this gang.
We need to REMOVE capital from our capitalist economy??
Interesting approach...
How will having less money in our economy help increase sales?
Apparently this one sleeps fine if you read her quote from the caption under her photo:
..Landlords make money when they sleep.
Jael Duarte, Lawyer
LA Henry Law
57 Carleton St (2nd Floor)
Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 3T2
Canada
+1 506 455 5245
Well Mary Wilson I can put a dollar value on you sense of empathy towards people who are being taken advantage of.... zero.
Here's the thing...
The new record high housing prices in New Brunswick will be a direct result of the Government's removal of rent controls and yet the conservative base will blame "foreign investors" for the high cost of real estate...
In Ontario the "assessed value" is supposed to match "market value" as best it can...
I don't know a politician anywhere that doesn't want more tax revenue.
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