[SpongeG]

Yes I understand that, but renter beware. I've heard people say they paid first and last months rent and in BC you don't do that, you only pay a security deposit which you get back when you move out, so upon moving in you only have to pay first months. Perhaps people from Ontario where that is the norm just didn't educate themselves on rental rules in BC. And when renting a unit from an owner you are more likely to run into those issues but again its your responsibility to know your rights.

Reading on facebook though people are freaking out that everyones rent is going up 4.5% which is possible but it has been going up 4% for a few years anyway which most people don't seem to be aware of or have just not been paying attention to. It's just weird that people don't know or understand how it works. Like saying stop building rental buildings, that will only make the rental options fewer and increase the prices, whereas we need more rentals to keep prices down.

Luckily in Coquitlam unlike Burnaby most of the new developments are having to include rental units. Such as the one-two tower development being built down the street from me. They are replacing two rental buildings that I think had maybe 80 units in the two of them with a rental tower of 200 units. That will affect the area's rates but they are at least adding more units than they are taking away. Another proposal will be removing 200 rental units but replacing them with 1000 rental units up in Burquitlam. Another development is entirely new and will be adding 100+ units that never existed in the area. Etc.

The building i live in is all 2 bedrooms and the current rate is $1300. Back in 1996 it was $650 for the same unit. The landlord only started to put up the rates when skytrain opened about a 5 minute walk away and had to start doing repairs etc as the building is getting older but that area rentals are still affordable I think for greater vancouver. Rents in the surrounding buildings are all in the same price range.