The organization that represents Landlords in B.C. is weighing in on the controversial, but not illegal actions of a Victoria landlord.
Rick Kallstrom, owner of the Daytona Apartments in James Bay, issued eviction notices to several tenants saying he needed their units for family members. But he gave them the option to stay if they agreed to rent hikes of 38% in some cases, and if they signed non-disclosure agreements.
While it's legal to evict for family reasons, and legal to hike rents above the 4% annual limit if tenants agree, CEO of Landlord BC -- David Hutniak -- has concerns:
"The thing is our expectation is that this is bonafide. And you know, in situations where there is any misrepresentation on that front as an excuse to try an evict people, or under duress try and seek higher increases, that's just unacceptable."
Hutniak says his organization would support measures to validate legitimacy of landlord claims, adding the issue is on the Housing Minister's radar.
" You know this is something that we'd expressed concern about. The current housing minister as well has this issue on her radar. We think other jurisdictions have done some good things around this to make sure it's legitimate. And we would support looking at some measures to making sure that, you know, there's proper validation of these sorts of reclamation of existing units by the owners."
Kallstrom says he's a businessman who wants to make more money. He says he is against rent control, and feels he is unfairly taxed.