REPORT TO COUNCIL

November 23, 1989 -2-

BACKGROUND

Under current regulations owners of rental buildings must obtain permission
of Council for conversion of these units for public sale under. the
Condominium Act. Some owners appear to be bypassing this requirement by
using long term leases. The owner charges a large fee for these leases and,
in fact, is selling the unit.

The existing tenants are being approached and are being told that in order
to stay in their apartment they must prepay for a 99-year lease or face
eviction,

The Provincial Cabinet recently passed an Order in Counci] which requires a
landlord to have Municipal approval, by by-law, prior to giving notice of
eviction on the grounds of conversion to 99-year leases.

While this gives the Municipality some control, it is after the tenant has
received notice and the enforcement of this Order in Council is in the hands
of the Residential Tenancy Branch.

In the past, Municipalities had control over long term leases of residential
units and a brief history of that contro] may be useful to look at the
various types of controls which were in place.

Under the Land Title Act, residential leases under three years do not have
to be registered. This means that the tenants' interest is protected for
the term of the lease from any change in ownership and automatic eviction.
The charges for a short term lease would be reasonable for the tenant to
finance.

Before 1965, and prior to any Jong term lease being registered in the Land
Title Office, the Tong tern lease had to be approved by the same method as
applied to subdivisions, that is by the Approving Officer.

In 1965 an amendment came in that removed the requirement for approval if
the lease for longer than three years was for part of a building.

In 1974 the new Landlord and Tenant Act was introduced and that Act
contained Section 20(4) which stated that a landlord could not enter into a
tenancy agreement for a term exceeding three years without the approval of
the Municipal Council.

In 1977 the Residential Tenancy Act replaced the Landlord and Tenant Act:
however, it did Carry on the requirement for Municipal approval with the
proviso that if it was a residential property containing two or less
residential premises the approval was not required.

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