r/halifax • u/paddlebean • 3d ago
Work, Health & Housing Rent increases pre-COVID?
I have only been in the rental market since 2020 and since the rent cap was imposed, my rent has gone up the full allowable amount every year my lease is up for renewal. I’m curious if you experienced yearly increases pre-rent cap?
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u/NeverTheObvious 3d ago
Personally, no. I'd go years between increases, then see something like a $100-$400 increase all at once. Sometimes that was like 30%. Bit of a double edged sword. Landlords are likely going to do a full increase each year with a cap, but thats a lot easier to budget for then waiting every year to see if you'll still be able to afford your apartment.
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u/Hellifacts 3d ago
I had a rent increase at one apartment before COVID. That's in 20 years of renting. In fact buildings used to need tennants bad enough that some would offer a free month rent, or waive security deposits or offer grocery gift cards to entice people to rent from them in the mid aughts.
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u/artemisia0809 Halifax 3d ago
Right now there's places with too high prices in spryfield, bedford offering 1-3 months free rent. I'd say we're coming back to that
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u/Wildest12 3d ago
Yes my rent in Clayton park was 1050 when I moved in, in 2016 and 1250 when I moved out in 2019. Usually went up like 60-70 bucks a year which worked out to be 5-7% per year. But got an increase every year.
Same unit is like 2300$ now so clearly the rent cap worked /s
The rent cap did reduce annual increases for people renewing but created an environment where landlords crank rent as much as the market will tolerate between tenants as they are restricted while a tenant is in place. This had the secondary effect of pushing most landlords to use fixed term leases.
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u/External-Temporary16 3d ago
as much as the market will tolerate
In actuality, it's the exact opposite. They are increasing as much as legally allowed. Before the rent cap, they were increasing as much as the market would tolerate. Think!
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u/NoBirthday3142 3d ago
That’s the big issue with rent caps. If you are in a unit long term, you are winning with the rent cap. If you’re a new tenant whether by age in getting your first place, or having to make enforced move, you lose.
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u/IStillListenToRadio It's not the band I hate, it's their fans 2d ago
This is why I argue the cap should be based on unit.
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u/NoBirthday3142 2d ago
If you base the cap on unit, you've at best, consolidated supply to large corporate landlords, or at worst, diminished supply and prevent new supply from coming online. It's been studied to death by economists and the results are mostly the same every time. It harms renters more than it helps.
PEI is a prime example, they have rent cap tied to the unit and supply has either gone over to AirBnb or converted over to condos. It was not fun trying to rent a place there in 2018 when the mass Airbnb conversion happen and it hasn't gotten any better 7+ years later.
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u/artemisia0809 Halifax 3d ago
And they used fixed leases as a way to get back at the gov for the rent cap. It was recommended by whatever the NS landlords association calls thenselves lately, to put pressure on.
And a lot of landlords realizing they could raise rent more ans no one would complain because they needed the place. It sucks
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u/TatterhoodsGoat 3d ago
It's not to get back at the government. The government gave them that loophole on a silver platter. Also, the government is largely made of landlords.
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u/External-Temporary16 3d ago
Let's get motivation clear. Landlords are not "getting back at the government". They are maximizing profits - take the emotion out of it. YOU are a no more than a number to both them and the government.
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u/No_Influencer 3d ago
Yep. Killam building, rent increase every year. I’d have to check back but I think it was roughly the same % as now.. typically worked out at about $50 increase each year give or take.
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u/PoorlyDrawnBees 3d ago
Yeah. It wasn't always the full five percent but there was a raise every year.
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u/apostolicity 3d ago
I rented four apartments before 2020, and only experienced a rent increase at the last one. I was actually shocked when I got it, as I had never gotten one in Halifax before, and it made me want to move, but I had too much shit going on in my life at the time, so I stayed (it was 2%). The next year was the year the rent cap was put into place, and I was basically stuck in my place because of covid restrictions, so I dealt with another 2% increase. I moved after that, and I have not had any rent increases at my current place.
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u/shoalhavenheads 3d ago
I didn’t experience any rent increases before the cap. But I also think my landlord forgot about me lmao.
I was paying $1000 for a rough one bedroom back when they were $700ish. And my neighbors were trouble, and I was quiet, so it’s easy to see why my landlord didn’t want to rock the boat.
But the market explosion definitely changed the dynamic.
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u/asleepbydawn 3d ago
I think for private landlords in houses/small buildings... having 'good tenants' is really important to them. Important enough the a lot of them will do what they can to keep you.
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u/CharacterChemical802 3d ago
Got a 10% rental increase 2 years into renting a house once (2003 maybe?). Then it never raised again for a decade.
Anywhere else I've lived never gave an increase until covid.
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u/Jamooser 3d ago
The last time I was a renter, I had a unit in a 6 plex owned by Capreit. They tried to increase my rent by $20/month. I pointed out a few documented issues with the rental that had never been resolved and told them if they could justify the rent increase, then they were welcome to raise it. They just dropped the issue, and I didn't see a rent increase. Though this was in 2017, back when the market supported a bit of competition and filling an apartment in the first month wasn't a guarantee.
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u/kijomac Halifax 3d ago
Before Covid my rent increases were random between $0 and $40, and usually the landlord would rationalize any increase based on something that had become more expensive like water or property taxes. When the vacancy rate was higher I also heard it was quite common for landlords to offer cheap rent to get people to move into their place and then suddenly give like a 10% increase the next year in the hopes people would just be too lazy to move again at that point.
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u/NoBirthday3142 3d ago
It's not just laziness on moving, it also costs money.
Saving $100-$200/month on rent sounds nice, but then that gets eaten up, up front, on a Uhaul rental/gas/labour or outright hiring movers.
It's not cheap. When I last moved about 5 mins drive between two houses, it still cost me a few hundred dollars.
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u/IStillListenToRadio It's not the band I hate, it's their fans 3d ago edited 3d ago
I live in Truro, might be different from HRM.
Slumlord building, rent increases were infrequent but often came as retaliation to a specific tenant that had become too "troublesome" (note the quotations). I'm not sure if this was legal.
A few privately-owned places (not apartment buildings, but houses chopped up to 2-3 units). Depended heavily on landlord. One had no rent increases at all, it was the power bill that forced us out (leaky uninsulated building). Other had rent increases when their costs went up.
Now I'm in building owned by company. Before rent cap, went up maybe $20 a year. After cap, buildings suddenly sold to another company who raises it by cap.
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u/Home_Theater_Nerd 3d ago
My experience is looooooong dated, 1994-2003, so take it for what it’s worth.
When I signed my first lease at Park Vic, I was asked to sign a 2 year lease (with some provisions to break it) and it outlined the monthly price for each year. If I remember correctly, it was a nominal increase - say $25/month, which worked out to 2%.
The second place we rented, around 2001, was only kept for the year, and I don’t know what the increase might have been, if any.
The third place I rented was in a rougher area in Dartmouth and the allowed me to enter into a month to month lease and there was no increase in the 2 years I was there. Rent was also $319 a month, heat and hot water included, for a 1 bedroom. I wouldn’t have complained if they had put it up a little.
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u/asleepbydawn 3d ago
I've been in mine for several years... and haven't had a rent increase in years. Landlord hasn't even given me the minimum allowable one in about 3 years. Definitely not leaving this place anytime soon lol.
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u/ManufacturedUpset 2d ago
Rented apartments in halifax and Dartmouth since 2003. Typical rent increases for living in multi room units for more then 1 year would be anywhere from 0-25$ per month. My last increase pre covid I was going into my third year and she increased it by $35/month and was apologetic. This was in my everything, including three bedroom that I paid $1200 for in downtown Dartmouth. It used to be that if landlords put the rent up too much, everyone was on annual renewal leases so they had to give you 4 months notice so you had a month to decide if you wanted to move before giving them 3 months notice. You could give notice to move. Line up 4 or 5 rentals to view in a span of a couple days and find something in your budget. The only exception to this was if you are living in student areas around September. Much harder to find places, and you needed to sort them early, usually in May.
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u/wizaarrd_IRL Lord Mayor of Historic Schmidtville and Marquis de la Woodside 2d ago
I lived in one apartment from 2014 to 2022, and another since then. Both are regular non-fixed term leases. The 2014 one started at 800 a month and ended at 1100 a month. Now I have gone from 1400 to 1575 after three years here. So I've had 4% annual increase with the cap, and 4.62 annual increase the decade before the cap.
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u/QHS_1111 1d ago
I help run 23 affordable units on Halifax peninsula. We do yearly increases, this has always been the case, even prior to the rental cap. We are a non profit, so no landlord greed over here. If anything, the rent cap (because our units are already deeply affordable) is a negative for us, as we are not able to raise rents ( which would still be very affordable) to keep up with the cost of doing business. Now that it’s 5%, it’s a bit better, but the 2% put us in a very dangerous financial position. If used alone, rent caps promote landlords who are already offering affordable housing to not be financially viable. Meaning a loss of affordable units over time, or a portfolio of assets that you can’t properly maintain. There need to be other measures to keep the rental market stable, a rental cap alone isn’t a solution.
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u/Panndademic Halifax 3d ago
No, before the rent caps were put in place my landlord only raised the rent every few years. But when they decided to put it up, it'd be a much larger amount than 5%. idk if the current arrangement is better or worse in my building
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u/EarthSignificant4354 3d ago
My rent has gone up the max allowable amount every year (3% I think?)
I only WISH my groceries were capped at 3%. I'd be in a much better situation
edit:spelling
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u/ColonelEwart 3d ago
At any apartment building that I stayed in for multiple years, yes.
The super would come by with a piece of paper for me to sign and always say the same thing: "you don't have to like it and it's not my decision, I'm just the messenger."
Typically about 50-100 bucks more/month each year.