For the second consecutive year, B.C.’s maximum allowable rent increase is being set below the inflation rate. The maximum increase for 2024 will be 3.5%.

The rent cap of 3.5% is well below the 12-month average inflation rate of 5.6% and applies to rent increases with an effective date on or after Jan. 1, 2024. If landlords choose to increase rent, they must provide a full three months’ notice to tenants using the correct Notice of Rent Increase form. B.C. landlords can increase rent only once every 12 month, a Ministry of Housing media release stated.

“Across the country, costs have been increasing – especially for housing – at a rate that’s unsustainable for many people,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing. “We know that’s the case for both landlords and renters, and that’s why we’ve found a balance to protect renters while helping to keep rental units on the market.”

Before 2018, the annual allowable rent increase was based on the inflation rate plus two per cent. Following a recommendation by the Rental Housing Task Force, the rent increase was reduced to just the inflation rate. A rent increase freeze was put in place in 2020 and 2021 to support renters during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To protect renters from high inflation in 2023, the province capped rent increases at two per cent, well below the 5.4% inflation rate that would have otherwise applied.

As inflation returns to normal levels, the province intends to return to an annual rent increase that is tied to B.C.’s Consumer Price Index in future years, the housing ministry said.

Need to know for renters

• If a landlord served a tenant with a Notice of Rent Increase that takes effect in 2023 using the 2024 annual allowable rent increase, it is null and void and the tenant does not have to pay it. They must follow the set rent increase for 2023.
• The maximum allowable rent increase is defined by the 12-month average per-cent change in the all-items Consumer Price Index for B.C. ending in July the year prior to the calendar year for which a rent increase takes effect. For example, if a rent increase takes effect in 2025, the maximum allowable rent increase is the 12-month average per-cent change in the all-items Consumer Price Index for B.C. ending in July 2024.

• The 2024 maximum increase for manufactured-home park tenancies will be 3.5%, plus a proportional amount for the change in local government levies and regulated utility fees.
• The rent increase does not apply to commercial tenancies, non-profit housing tenancies where rent is geared to income, co-operative housing and some assisted-living facilities.

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