She complained about her Fredericton apartment. Then came the 21% rent increase
Rent for the mould-riddled apartment going from $888 to $1,074
The kitchen counter in Barbara Blunston's apartment is so rotted, the area around the sink is drooping.
Because of moisture problems, mould consistently creeps up her walls. And three windows are broken, with one taped over with a garbage bag.
Blunston said after months of asking landlord Sunfield Rentals to fix the problems, she filed a complaint with New Brunswick's Tenant and Landlord Relations Office last November.
Then came a letter from Sunfield on May 30, notifying her the rent for her one-bedroom apartment would be going up from $888 to $1,074 — a 21 per cent increase — in December.
"I feel they don't care about their tenants at all," Blunston said. "They care about money and … if this was their family member, they wouldn't let their family members live in something like this."
Landlord purchased building in 2020
Blunston said she moved into the three-unit building in September 2019, initially paying $800 per month, including utilities.
She said the apartment already had issues when she moved in, but the former owner didn't address them before selling the building to Sunfield in February 2020.
Blunston said she initially didn't hear from or meet the new owner or any of their staff, aside from a note informing her where to send her rent.
About a year later, Blunston said, an employee with Sunfield visited her apartment, giving her the first opportunity to discuss problems, such as a hole in the kitchen sink and low water pressure in the shower.
She said she also explained she was finding mould in the unit, and two windows were no longer working properly.
Someone came to replace the kitchen sink in 2022 and told her he'd likely be back to replace the entire counter, which was rotted and filled with mould. That never happened.
This past spring, Sunfield addressed the water pressure problem by installing new pipes.
Blunston said three of the unit's windows are now broken or no longer open and close properly, and the mould has spread to other parts of the apartment, including her bedroom.
With no response from Sunfield to those problems, she filed a complaint with the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office in November. She's still waiting for an agent to be assigned to her case.
Meanwhile, Blunston said, Sunfield renovated the unit above hers starting in January, and in May, notified her of the 21 per cent rent increase.
She said she contacted the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office about the notice and was told Sunfield would have to issue a new one since it listed her unit number incorrectly in the letter to her.
She said she's waiting for Sunfield to issue a notice with her correct unit number and plans to file a formal appeal once that happens.
CBC News contacted Sunfield Rentals, requesting an interview about Blunston's complaints, but did not get a response.
Service New Brunswick records show the company was registered in 2015, with Wei Liu named as the sole director.
Property records indicate Liu owns 22 properties in New Brunswick, with 14 of them — mostly single-family homes — purchased since February 2020.
Rent increase must match market
CBC News asked the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office for an interview, but spokesperson Kate Wright said one wasn't possible.
In an email, Wright said landlords are required to comply with all health, safety, housing and building standards, and must keep all common areas in a clean and safe condition.
She also shared information on the province's website, which says a tenant who objects to a rent increase notice may apply within 60 days to have it reviewed.
"New rent amounts must be within market value for the condition and size of the unit as compared to similar units in the same building or neighbourhood," Wright said.
If the office determines the increase matches market value, it can still decide to phase it in over two or three years.
That determination is based on a formula tied to Canada's consumer price index, which, for example, would make any rent increase of more than 4.7 per cent after July 1 eligible for being phased in.
Complaint process flawed, says advocate
The possibility that Blunston's rent increase could be phased in leaves her some recourse, but it falls short of the protections tenants in New Brunswick should have, said Tobin LeBlanc Haley, co-founder of the New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants Rights and an associate professor of sociology at the University of New Brunswick.
She said the current framework allows landlords to raise rents by as much as they want, putting the onus on tenants to complain to the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office.
That leaves tenants with the choice of either absorbing the added cost, or starting a process that can create an adversarial situation with their landlord, she said.
"If we had a rent-regulation regime that allowed for rent increases to be predictable by tenants year over year, and if we had a tenant-landlord relations office that had real tribunal powers that could step in and could mediate these things quickly, it would mean that this tenant would have more support to navigate the repair issue and this rent increase would never have happened at 20 per cent," LeBlanc Haley said.
In response to cost of living concerns, the government under Premier Blaine Higgs implemented a one-year rent cap in 2022, preventing landlords from raising rents by more than 3.8 per cent.
However, that ended in 2023, and the government has shaken off repeated calls to reinstate rent control regulations.
Little hope finding something else
Blunston said she's been asked by some why she doesn't just find a new place to live.
She said there are few options to be found in Fredericton for a one-bedroom apartment that would accept her cat at about the same price she currently pays.
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, as of last October, Fredericton had a rental vacancy rate of 1.3 per cent, and the average one-bedroom apartment cost $1,064 per month.
Blunston said she also chooses not to move out because she fears the next tenant will just inherit all the problems with the unit, at possibly a higher cost.
"At this point, I'm kind of doing it for everybody who is having issues with trying to find affordable and livable conditions, trying to get their landlords to treat them like people and give them the spaces that any human being should have," Blunston said.
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