B.C. sets rent increase cap at 3% for 2025

The B.C. government says landlords will not be able to increase rents by more than three per cent in 2025.

The government said the change, which is tied to inflation, will take effect on Jan. 1. This year's allowable rent increase is 3.5 per cent.

"At a time when we know renters are struggling, our rent cap protects renters against unfair rent hikes, while allowing landlords to meet rising costs so that rental homes can stay in B.C.'s housing market," said B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon in a news release Monday.

Tying the annual allowable rent increase to inflation is consistent with recommendations from the Rental Housing Task Force, according to Vancouver West End MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert, the premier's liaison for renters.

Inflation returning to 'normal levels'

The government says the change is being made as "inflation begins to return to more normal levels."

The province implemented a rent increase freeze in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. In 2022, the rent increase limit was 1.5 per cent, and in 2023, a two per cent cap was applied.

If landlords choose to increase rent, they must abide by the Residential Tenancy Act and provide a full three months notice to tenants, according to the government. Rents cannot be increased more than once in a 12-month period, the province says. 

The 2025 maximum increase for "manufactured-home park tenancies" will also be three per cent, the province said, plus a proportional amount for the change in local government levies and regulated utility fees.

The three per cent cap does not apply to commercial tenancies; non-profit residential tenancies in which rent is set according to income; housing co-operatives; and some assisted-living facilities.