Rezoning bylaw holds up in B.C. court, inspiring Ontario MPP

VANCOUVER — A B.C. metropolis’s bylaw that rezones property as rental-only has withstood one other court docket problem, affirming laws introduced in by the province to guard renters.

It’s a authorized victory that has Ontario housing advocates as soon as once more turning their eyes to developments on the West Coast.

The Metropolis of New Westminster, a Vancouver suburb of about 70,000 individuals, gained a provincial appeals court docket resolution Monday, preserving a zoning bylaw stopping house owners from dwelling of their properties in areas designated for rental use solely. The goal is to guard rental models by not letting particular person house owners transfer in or demolish them to construct condos.

“The bylaw shouldn’t be inconsistent with the Residential Tenancy Act,” Justice Harvey Groberman wrote in his abstract of the judgment, confirming an earlier court docket’s verdict. “Additional the Native Authorities Act, fairly interpreted, gave the municipality authority to enact it.”

The case centred round house owners of models in six buildings that had been constructed as rental housing however had been “stratified,” enabling the models to be offered to particular person house owners if desired. The shift to a condominium constructing — known as strata buildings in B.C. — may, underneath provincial legislation, open renters to being evicted if constructing house owners needed to maneuver in themselves.

Nonetheless, New Westminster rezoned the buildings to be rental-only in 2019, after the province handed a legislation enabling cities to take action. (Constructing house owners may nonetheless dwell in suites if that they had been dwelling in them previous to the town making the zoning change.)

The house owners’ authorized bid was meant to get the bylaw quashed, however the Courtroom of Attraction for B.C. rebuffed them on Monday, rejecting the argument that the rezoning was obscure and out of doors of the town’s jurisdiction. (In line with the judgment, the house owners had been all “company landlords” with no intentions of really occupying the models themselves.)

Mayor Patrick Johnstone mentioned the victory exhibits the B.C. legislation may assist all cities within the province protect rental inventory, and likewise proved mistaken those that slammed the rezoning when it was handed.

“We heard two issues: we heard that we might lose in court docket, and we had been additionally advised that rental funding would finish in New Westminster,” Johnstone mentioned. “Each have turned out to be false.”

He mentioned rental models within the metropolis are actually being constructed at a price quicker than wherever else within the area. Monday’s resolution “sends the message” the courts will defend the fitting of cities to rezone to rental-only, he added.

“You don’t typically hear excellent news about cities performing boldly to guard susceptible renters,” Johnstone mentioned. “It’s day for renters in New West and provincewide.”

Howard Shapray, lawyer for the house owners, mentioned he believes his shoppers had stable arguments, however added that it’s too early to know in the event that they intend to take the case to the next court docket.

“We’re nonetheless pondering the problem,” he mentioned. “We have now to determine a difficulty of nationwide significance, one thing that might appeal to the eye of the Supreme Courtroom of Canada.”

Some wish to see related legal guidelines launched in Ontario.

Ontario’s NDP housing critic, College-Rosedale MPP Jessica Bell, mentioned such rezoning protections are wanted in her province. Bell mentioned rental housing has been in rising jeopardy, throughout the GTA specifically.

“We have now seen builders proceed to prioritize the development of condos over purpose-built leases as a result of they make their revenue extra rapidly,” Bell mentioned. “A purpose-built rental is a long-term funding.”

She mentioned about 3,000 rental models in Toronto are liable to being demolished and was condos. Municipalities “want extra instruments” to guard such rental inventory, she mentioned.

It’s not the primary time New Westminster, a historic metropolis on the banks of the Fraser River that was the province’s first capital metropolis, has induced a stir with its legal guidelines round leases. The town additionally gained a court docket problem in 2021 of laws aimed toward stopping so-called “renovictions,” when an proprietor boots out a tenant, ostensibly to make renovations, however then places the property on sale.

These laws require that landlords of purpose-built leases present for short-term lodging of tenants compelled out resulting from renovations. Landlords should additionally ship the tenant a written provide to maneuver again, on the identical hire, when the renovations are full.

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