FREDERICTON – Green Party leader David Coon’s bill that would institute an annual rent cap and limit rent increases to once per year to protect tenants from unreasonable rent increases will be debated at second reading in the Legislature on Thursday afternoon.
“The Clerk of the Executive Council’s review of the rental landscape recommended that the Residential Tenancies Act be amended to prevent unreasonable rent increases and limit them to once a year,” said Coon. “If adopted, this bill will achieve exactly that.”
While Coon’s bill addresses one of the shortcomings of the Residential Tenancies Act, he says that further reforms to the Act are urgently needed to increase the rights of New Brunswick tenants, such as protection from arbitrary evictions.
“Further improvements to the Residential Tenancies Act are needed now,” said Coon. “I am calling on the government to support this bill, and then bring comprehensive amendments to the Act to mirror the rights that tenants have in the rest of Canada, in New Brunswick law.”
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To read the full text of the Act to Amend The Residential Tenancies Act, click here.