Response to the Strata Property Act Amendments Concerning Rentals Announcement January 12, 2010
Good morning,
We have had several questions to our recent email regarding the recent changes to the Strata Property Act and rental units. Below is a summary of the questions and our answers.
What is a “RDS”?
“RDS” is the Rental Disclosure Statement that is filed as part of the Disclosure Statement. Developers are required to provide a Disclosure Statement every time they sell 5 or more units, and a Rental Disclosure Statement is part of the Disclosure Statement.
How does this affect a buyer acquiring property already tenanted from original owner – It does not. The recent changes to the Strata Property Act only apply to Disclosure Statements filed after Dec. 31, 2009. There is no change for units in which the Disclosure Statement was filed prior to that time.
Does this mean that any new strata filed after January 1st of 2010, does not have the power to enforce rental restrictions? This is correct only if the Rental Disclosure Statement reserves the right to rent for a period of time (which most do). Developers may choose to file a RDS that prohibits rentals and in such a case, rentals shall not be allowed.
Does this apply only to No Rental restrictions or what about where strata set up a maximum number of units to be rented? As stated above, the changes have nothing to do with existing units, so current No Rental Restrictions are in effect and remain so.
Most every form ‘B’ I have seen says nothing about a date? It is the Rental Disclosure Statement that is relevant, not the Form B.
If you have anymore questions please let me know,
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