Charlottetown: January 9, 2023:  “Minister MacKay’s unexpected announcement that landlords who legally seek greater than allowable rent increases will be ineligible for the property tax rebate program is misguided,” says Parker Perry, Chairperson of the Residential Rental Association of PEI (RRAP).

The proposed rebate program was offered up as compensation for the government’s unprecedented move of cancelling rent increases approved by IRAC that were intended to help landlords deal with the highest inflation in the country.  Under rental law, landlords are legally entitled to apply for rent increases beyond the approved increase if they have experienced cost increases beyond what the annual rental increase would address.  In the case of 2023, the annual increase imposed by government was zero percent, so many landlords are looking to apply for these legal increases in light of soaring costs.

“Ironically, this latest move will harm many tenants.  Prior to this announcement, any decision by IRAC on a greater than allowable rent increase would likely be reduced as a result of the proposed tax rebate.   By excluding landlords from accessing the tax rebate, Minister Mackay and the King Government are subjecting tenants to the risk of higher greater-than-allowable rent increases.”

“The King Government is making this up as it goes along with no plan to address the housing crisis or meaningfully honour its commitment to landlords.   This latest move to penalize landlords who are trying to recover costs under the greater-than-allowable provision of the law is punitive and misguided.   It will also have the unintended consequence of  imposing higher rents on many tenants whose landlords obtain greater-than-allowable increases.” 

“The entire approach by government – overturning an independent tribunal, promising compensation to landlords, ultimately offering meagre one-time compensation and then taking it away if landlords make a legally-permitted application – is aimed at winning tenant votes in the impending election and amounts to the expropriation of more than $20 million dollars a year from landlords,” said Perry.

For more information:

Chris LeClair
902 314-0623