Charlottetown: November 21, 2022: “As we head into 2023, rental property owners are increasingly concerned about rising costs and rental caps that are seriously harming the financial viability of the rental sector,” says Parker Perry, President of the Residential Rental Association of PEI (RRAP).
“Minister MacKay committed that he would be coming forward with a compensation program for rental owners over two weeks ago, and we have yet to hear a word. We wrote the Minister and offered to be part of the process of developing such a package and have not received a response.”
As rental property owners struggle with the fall-out of arbitrary 0% rental caps for 2023, government has tabled legislation, Bill 87 The Residential Tenancy Act, that introduces a series of more restrictive measures and added costs to operate. The Act further politicizes IRAC by giving the Premier’s Office and Executive Council the power to choose their own Director of Residential Rentals.
“The original drafting process for this legislation was a farce. It was run by a PR company with no experience in rental legislation who held two meetings….everyone put their ideas on sticky notes with no analysis. If government is serious that they want the private sector at the table to build new rental units, Bill 87 and the rental freeze for 2023 is no way to accomplish that goal.”
RRAP has written to the Minister asking that the legislation be put before a standing committee for greater scrutiny and analysis. It has also requested a meeting with the Minister and the general membership of the association so that he can lay out the government’s compensation package.
“Our membership will make themselves available anytime, anywhere to meet with the Minister to hear what concrete plans his government has for compensating rental property owners,” said Perry.