P.E.I. government-commissioned report points to benefits of rental registry

A consultant's report commissioned by the P.E.I. government to explore the possibility of a rental registry concluded it would provide benefits for both tenants and landlords.

A draft of the report from Stantec Consulting was delivered to government in November 2021. Over the next six months government staff worked on revisions, but the report was never released to the public — and ultimately the Dennis King government decided not to move ahead with a registry.

CBC News received a copy of the report from a member of the public who obtained it through a freedom of information request.

In the report, Stantec told the province a rental registry would lead to a better-documented system of rental agreements, "in which tenants will be protected from undue increases in rent and changes to service provisions, and landlords will conduct their business with improved knowledge of the market and more uniform practices."

A registry documenting how much rent Island tenants pay to their landlords has long been proposed as a tool to help enforce the province's rent controls. In the absence of the Progressive Conservative government bringing one in, Green Party MLA Peter Bevan-Baker has announced plans to introduce a private member's bill to implement a registry this fall.

'Clear role' for registry in tracking rent increases

While the report is generally supportive of the notion of implementing a registry, if Stantec made any recommendation to the province for or against such a tool, that was redacted in the version of the report released through freedom of information.

"The rental registry as proposed for P.E.I. has a clear role as a tool for monitoring rental increases relative to annually prescribed [Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission] guidelines," the report states.

In a statement to CBC News, the provincial Department of Housing, Land and Communities said that no other jurisdiction "has a rental registry for the purpose of rent control." 

Rather than develop a registry, the department said its priority has been to monitor the impact of measures to prevent illegal rent increases that were included in the Residential Tenancy Act , which came into effect in April 2023.

Grassroots registry saved tenants money, says creator

Former federal Green Party candidate Darcie Lanthier said there's a good reason no other jurisdiction has this type of rental registry: Other jurisdictions don't have similar rent control regimes.

P.E.I. rental registry would protect tenants, inform landlords, report delivered in 2021 says

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A report commissioned by the P.E.I. government that has recently come to light described how a rental registry would work on the Island. Stantec, the consulting firm hired to do the work, told the province in late 2021 that a rental registry would lead to a better-documented system of rental agreements that would protect tenants while giving landlords a greater knowledge of the market.

Lanthier created her own rental registry in 2021, after a Green Party motion passed unanimously in the P.E.I. legislature in 2019 calling on the province to create one.

"I knew that people were being overcharged and there was just no solution to find out by how much," said Lanthier.

"The rental registry was an excellent idea when it was introduced in the legislature. It was an excellent idea when I ended up doing it. And it's going to be great, for example, if IRAC takes it over."

As a result of her registry, she said, IRAC has ordered landlords to return more than $100,000 to tenants, including two individual awards worth more than $20,000 each, after determining they had imposed rent increases above allowable limits.

P.E.I. rent controls tied to units, not tenants

For decades, Prince Edward Island has had rent controls in place to limit how much more landlords can charge tenants each year. Unlike many other jurisdictions with rent controls, P.E.I.'s are tied to the unit itself, meaning they remain in effect even after a tenant leaves.

In 2023, the province brought in new rental legislation, the Residential Tenancy Act, which caps rent increases to a maximum of six per cent per year, subject to approval from the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission.

In its statement to CBC News, the province said one provision in the act — that rental lease agreements now include the amount paid by the previous tenant — means the province no longer requires a rental registry to track that information.

But Ryan MacRae with the P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing noted that it falls on landlords to provide those amounts on the document.

"Good policy shouldn't rely on the honesty of someone who could have a financial incentive to be dishonest," MacRae said in an email.

IRAC told CBC News that leases signed after the new act came into effect do require that information, but the commission doesn't track compliance.

In its statement, the province also cited fines the act allows of up to $10,000 against landlords who break the law. But IRAC said not a single fine has been levied in the year and a half since the act came into effect, despite multiple rulings in favour of tenants.

Tenant groups in favour, landlords not

The Stantec report found groups broadly representing tenants were in favour of a registry, including P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing, P.E.I. Family Violence Prevention and the Immigrant and Refugee Services Association.

For the most part, Stantec found that landlords were not.

The report says the Residential Rental Association of P.E.I. considers a rental registry "an unnecessary response to what the group considers a non-problem."

[Landlords] see the registry as government over-reach that threatens their business interests, their business privacy, and the privacy of their tenants, as well as a reinforcement of the rent control regime, which most oppose.— Draft report from Stantec Consulting

The report added: "They see the registry as government over-reach that threatens their business interests, their business privacy, and the privacy of their tenants, as well as a reinforcement of the rent control regime, which most oppose."

In an interview this month, the group's current executive director, June Ellis, said her group also feels a registry would lead to "dissatisfaction" among tenants.

"It's going to be public, and they can access it, and it would get hard feelings, because not necessarily every tenant in one building is paying the same rent," said Ellis. "They may feel the rent is unfair compared to others."

To be effective, the Stantec report says a registry would have to include information on which utilities are included in a unit's rental price.

The report suggests data could be included within an existing platform such as GeoLinc, the province's online property registry.

Regarding privacy concerns related to listing rental values online, the report noted most land-use information is not considered confidential, and P.E.I.'s privacy commissioner has supported the inclusion of property records on GeoLinc, which includes mortgage values and tax assessment information.

The report notes that names of tenants and landlords do not need to be included in a rental registry — just addresses and unit numbers.

Stantec said the data gathered for the registry could inform government policy-making and provide a better understanding of the provincial housing market.

The province said the Stantec report cost about $30,000, but didn't respond to a question on why the results were never released.

The province also denied a request for an interview with former housing minister Rob Lantz, saying he was not involved in initial discussions regarding the registry.

Lantz was shuffled out of the housing portfolio on Wednesday. The province's new minister of housing is Steven Myers.