N.B. rent review complaints jumped in 2022 — and so did rejections of increases

Rent review applications to New Brunswick's residential tenancies tribunal have more than tripled in 2022, while rejections of increases sought by landlords have increased more than sevenfold compared to last year.

The surge in complaints and rejections occurred in a year that saw the Higgs government impose a temporary cap on rent increases to put a lid on the soaring cost of housing. 

"It does reflect basically the need for rent control, obviously, with all those complaints, with all those people doing it," says Peter Jongeneelen, the co-chair of New Brunswick ACORN, a tenants advocacy group.

According to figures provided by Service New Brunswick, 122 tenants applied for a review of their rent increases in 2021. That number jumped to 369 in 2022, as of Dec. 15.

Of the 122 applications in 2021, seven led to the tribunal denying a planned rent increase.

This year, 53 of the 376 applications led to rent increases being denied.

Another 31 applications remained under review as of last week.

"Evidently, tenants are doing what they're being asked to do, which is to call the [tribunal] and make complaints," Jongeneelen said. 

"Obviously, tenants are doing that, but they don't feel like they're protected." 

The one-year rent cap limiting increases to 3.8 per cent was announced in March by the Higgs government and applied retroactively to increases since Jan. 1.

But it will expire at the end of this month.

In 2023, landlords will have to comply with new legislation that will allow the tribunal to spread any increase above inflation over two or three years — but only if tenants apply to the tribunal for a review.

That still could be beyond what many people can afford, particularly those not getting cost-of-living increases to their salaries, benefit cheques or pensions, Jongeneelen said.

"What tenants need is some real, solid protections."

Housing Minister Jill Green said earlier this month that she's also considering legislation that would put the onus on landlords to go to the tribunal to justify rent increases greater than inflation.

She called the figures "high-level numbers" that would be only one consideration in her decision.

"The housing spectrum is incredibly complicated," she said. "There's all kinds of numbers that are collected. This is a piece of the puzzle, but it's a very complicated puzzle."

Green said it's impossible to say for sure whether the province's rent cap was a factor in the higher number of review applications in 2022.

"It tells me that the marketing campaign that we did last year really worked, and I'm hoping that all the discussions we've had back and forth in the house are going to do the same thing, so people know the residential tenancies tribunal is there to help them," she said.

The province announced its rent cap on March 22, 2022, but launched an advertising campaign to promote the tribunal three months earlier, in December 2021.

A monthly breakdown of applications shows no apparent spike right after the announcement of the cap. The tribunal received 44 applications in March and 28 in April. 

Legislation for the cap became law in June. The number of applications increased from 29 in June to 40 in July.

Jongeneelen said the Higgs government should extend the rent cap for at least two more years.

"It's doable, it's manageable, and the fact the tenants are calling with all of these concerns, there's a serious housing crisis here, and I'm sorry, rent control is a big piece of the puzzle."