FOG BLOG NB LOG: HIGGS- 'WAIT & SEE' REGARDING EXPIRY OF CAP, MONCTON TENANT GETS 94% RENT INCREASE

Moncton tenants dodge 94% rent increase shortly after N.B. rent cap expires Landlord still seeking increase of 55 per cent Melanie Wallace and her partner pay $900 per month for their Moncton apartment, but on New Year's Day the two found a notice from their landlord in the mailbox announcing plans to raise that to $1,750 later this year.

If implemented, it would have been a 94 per cent increase.

"My partner and I looked at it and we were like, this can't be legal," said Wallace.

"We were shocked."

This week Wallace's landlord, Moncton developer Stephen Gallant, rescinded the increase and in an interview called it poor judgment on his part. He still plans to raise rent on Wallace's unit to $1,395, a 55 per cent increase. He and Wallace disagree on whether it is a one or two-bedroom unit, but in Gallant's view a 94 per cent increase would fairly bring Wallace's rent up to market rates in Moncton. Still, he said he accepts that 94 per cent was too much to impose at once.

"In business you don't always make the right decision," said Gallant.

The notice to Wallace, and notices for differing amounts to other tenants in his downtown Moncton building that he also rescinded, signal the start of what could be a tumultuous year for renters in the province.

It's cutthroat out there- Leigh Johnson, Moncton tenant

On Jan. 1, New Brunswick ended a one-year hard cap of 3.8 per cent on rent increases, implemented to protect tenants from excessive price spikes.

Instead, the province is counting on the marketplace, responsible landlords, new rules and more powers for government tenancy officers to help keep rent increases fair.

But with inflation high and vacancy rates low, what landlords will be asking for, and what the province will accept as being fair if tenants object, is not entirely clear.

Leigh Johnson is Wallace's neighbour in the same building and is facing that dilemma. She initially received a rent increase notice from Gallant of 41 per cent — from $800 per month to $1,125.