1451 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

^ how does Manhattan fill barista jobs?

It works out.

On the international students working, they are supposed to be limited to 20 hours per week. But for the best of them, employers find work-arounds. It’s easy.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 March 2022 - 02:38 PM.

[Casual Kev]

^ how does Manhattan fill barista jobs?

It works out.

On the international students working, they are supposed to be limited to 20 hours per week. But for the best of them, employers find work-arounds. It’s easy.

 

well, the invisible hand always works things out. But the end result for a 400K town reliant on a government and tourism will be very different from the world's financial hub. 

[LJ]

Because we can't build enough apartment buildings fast enough the only thing that will work in the short term is rent controls. Inflation plus 2%, in Arizona, Phoenix area, rents have gone up 20% last year and 50% this year. They are talking inflation plus 5% here.

[Nparker]

Because we can't build enough apartment buildings fast enough the only thing that will work in the short term is rent controls. Inflation plus 2%...

As long as property taxes are also held to the same strict controls.

[Mike K.]

From the province:

To promote transparency and fairness for renters and landlords, B.C.’s Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) will record audio of all dispute-resolution hearings.

“This change will help bring more fairness, transparency and justice for everyone involved in a tenancy dispute,” said Spencer Chandra Herbert, chair of the Rental Housing Task Force and MLA for Vancouver-West End. “The recording of dispute-resolution hearings fulfils an important recommendation of the Rental Housing Task Force. Renters and rental housing providers all agreed this change was important to improve accountability and confidence that justice has been served.”

Having an audio record of what happened during a dispute-resolution hearing will give all parties more confidence in the process and promote good conduct. Previously, the RTB has not recorded dispute-resolution hearings, which made it difficult for parties who felt they were not treated fairly to challenge a decision. This change, effective immediately, will ensure all parties involved in dispute resolution can feel confident in the outcome.

This change has also been called for by tenant advocates and the Office of the Ombudsperson. All participants in dispute resolution will benefit from a formal record of their hearing and will be able to use the record if they have any concerns. Any hearing participant seeking a copy of their recording can contact the RTB and it will be provided free of charge.

“The Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre has always hoped that this Rental Housing Task Force recommendation would be implemented,” said Andrew Sakamoto, executive director, Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre. “All dispute-resolution participants deserve a right to procedural fairness, and recording hearings will go a long way toward improving transparency, accountability and consistency at the Residential Tenancy Branch.”

The RTB’s dispute-resolution process is designed to provide an open, consistent, efficient and just opportunity for all parties to tell their story and present evidence to an independent decision-maker. Dispute-resolution hearings are conducted over the phone to ensure equitable access throughout the province.

The Province has taken action on several fronts to protect the rights of renters and landlords in B.C., including closing the fixed-term lease loophole, limiting annual rent increases to the rate of inflation, creating a compliance and enforcement unit, and introducing protections to prevent illegal renovictions (evictions to complete renovations to a property).

[Nparker]

...The Province has taken action on several fronts to protect the rights of renters and landlords in BC...limiting annual rent increases to the rate of inflation...

So landlords can raise rents by 6.7 percent? 

[Mike K.]

The rate is tied to the provincial consumer price index, and calculated as an average CPI in July, so this July, whatever the province deems the CPI will be, will dictate the 2023 increase. It’ll land at approximately 4%-5%.

In April it’s already at 4%.

[Nparker]

Are fuel/energy prices kept out of the provincial CPI to keep any increase artificially low?

[Mike K.]

I guess it’s a sliding scale thar we use to calculate the increase, but the actual monthly CPI increase not averaged is much higher (around 7%).

[Citified.ca]

BC's 2023 rent increase maximum could be highest in decades without provincial intervention

https://victoria.cit...l-intervention/

 

A key piece of information:

 

Speaking to Vancouver’s CityNews earlier this month, David Hutniak of landlord advocacy group LandlordBC said landlords “are leaving the business frankly, in droves,” in part due to feeling “frustrated that [being a landlord] is more challenging,” and that “the returns aren’t there.”

 

 

[Nparker]

Setting the stage for government to come in and buy up rental properties with my tax dollars. I am pretty sure the NDP's goal is to be the landlord for all renters in BC. It's been a smashing success in the UK after all.

https://baringslaw.c...social-housing/
https://www.theguard...es-mentally-ill
https://www.itv.com/...itv-news-report

 

 

...the concept of council high rise flats was criticised in later years for creating poor quality badly built housing and high-density estates and many of the new estates had become hard to let and hard to live in by the 1970s. In reality many of the flats were built at low cost on run-down inner city areas or alternatively on remote low cost surburban sites, some quickly gaining a poor reputation. One example is the Netherley Estate in Liverpool. Begun in late 1960s, the estate was built to house people moving from the south dock area - the Dingle. From the start the estate was poorly located with no local employment and difficult and poor transport to the city centre. upon completion in the early 1970s, the five storey concrete slab blocks of flats were plagued with construction problems and rapidly required expensive maintenance. The estate developed a bad reputation with a high concentration of problem tenants. Within ten years of completion, the council began to move people out and rehouse them elsewhere. Netherley Estate has since been demolished at massive cost...

https://fet.uwe.ac.u...using/print.htm

 

[Mike K.]

There are many who would agree with you.

[Mike K.]

The province was supposed to release May figures for the provincial CPI on June 15th. These are the stats from which the the inflation figure for maximum rent increases is derived from.

[spanky123]

 

BC's 2023 rent increase maximum could be highest in decades without provincial intervention

https://victoria.cit...l-intervention/

 

A key piece of information:

 

According to the CIBC, the average mortgage payment will increase by $700 a month upon renewal. Hard to feel too badly for a tenant who will see a rent increase of $75. Also not difficult to see why an owner would want to just sell to a new immigrant who has a wad of cash and wants a home for her family. 

 

Years ago we had a strategy for cutting rent in half, it was called a roommate. 

Edited by spanky123, 21 June 2022 - 06:33 AM.

[Mike K.]

Homeowners are resilient. And they would have all qualified under a stress test, for those who are renewing for the first time and facing a jump in their rates.

And those that are renewing for a second/third time will have bought real-estate at much cheaper prices, making their mortgages comparatively small to begin with.

But at least we’ll finally hear an end to the homeowners are all rich and getting richer rhetoric (hopefully) when mortgage payments do rise.

[Barrrister]

I am pretty sure that rent increases will be limited to far less than actual inflation. Private landlords are all rich settlers that should be made to subsidize renters. Beside the rental market should all be government non-profit and subsidized. 

 

The fact of the matter is that there are a lot more renters than landlords and the renters are more organized and polarized than before.

[Sparky]

“…Private landlords are all rich settlers that should be made to subsidize renters. Beside the rental market should all be government non-profit and subsidized…”.

I for one do not agree with your opinion.

[Nparker]

I am pretty sure that Barrister was being sarcastic.

[spanky123]

Homeowners are resilient. And they would have all qualified under a stress test, for those who are renewing for the first time and facing a jump in their rates.

And those that are renewing for a second/third time will have bought real-estate at much cheaper prices, making their mortgages comparatively small to begin with.

But at least we’ll finally hear an end to the homeowners are all rich and getting richer rhetoric (hopefully) when mortgage payments do rise.

 

Very true but equity in your home doesn't translate into free cash flow unless you start drawing against it with a heloc which will be a much higher rate. 

 

How does it work with renewals and a stress test? Is the test applied again at the newer rates?

[Mike K.]

As long as you stick with your lender, you’re not going to be stress tested.

That being said, the stress test upon renewal to refinance with another lender is viewed by some in the industry as an unfair immobilizer for people trying to switch lenders.