What to do when rent is due? Tenants, landlords face uncertainty amid COVID-19 outbreak

Many New Brunswick tenants will facetheir largest bill since the emergency declaration when their rent comes due Wednesday.

The first of the month brings a wave of uncertainty for tenants and landlords alike. That has some advocates calling on government to afford renters affected by the COVID-19 outbreak extra protection and support, while others are looking to apartment owners for compassion and compromise.

For Willy Scholten, president of the New Brunswick Apartment Owners' Association, the expectation is that tenants will pay.

"We still have the same obligations that we've had in the past. We have to pay our expenses and continue to employ our people, pay maintenance, pay the operating costs, pay our mortgage payments," Scholten said.

"Our expectation is that rent will be paid when it's due."

That aligns with comments from Premier Blaine Higgs shortly after declaring the state of emergency March 19. As part of the measures, the province suspended the right of landlords to evict tenants for non-payment of rent until May 31.

"We are not saying tenants don't have to pay rent," Higgs said at the time. "They absolutely do. We're simply asking for flexibility that may be required as people and businesses lose income."

The "flexibility" will have to be negotiated by tenants and landlords on a case-by-case basis. Scholten said the association does not control its members, who set their own policies.

Asked what could happen if tenants do not pay, Scholten said: "Everything is completely uncertain at this point. We don't know what's going to happen."

He said owners expect tenants eligible for government financial aid to use those supports.

In New Brunswick, the government will provide a one-time income supplement of $900 for workers or small business owners who lost their income on March 15 or after. The first payments could be delivered later this week.

The federal Canada Emergency Response Benefit offers income support for up to 16 weeks about $2,000 a month to those who lose pay because of the pandemic. The application process is set to open in early April, with support to come about 10 days later.

Help for those who fall between the cracks

Those aid packages won't be available in time for Wednesday and they fail to help some low-income workers and people living on social assistance beyond a bump in the GST rebate, according to Jean-Claude Basque, provincial co-ordinator for the New Brunswick Common Front for Social Justice.

His organization is proposing government waive rent payments during the crisis for anyone living in New Brunswick Housing or non-profit social housing. They're also calling for the Department of Social Development to reinstate 75 rent subsidies that were cut in December.

"They have a lot of difficulty in the best of times to have a decent life and now with the crisis certainly they're being impacted a lot," Basque said.

On a broader scale, the group wants apartment owners to reduce rent payments by 25 per cent per month during the crisis.

Basque said owners were given a boost in the latest provincial budget with news the non-owner-occupied residential property tax will be cut in half over a four-year period, and now, he said, is a time to give back.

"Government and everybody is saying we're all in this together, which is true, but then we're asking the province and the federal [government] to do their part to help our tax system, to help people," Basque said.

"But the private sector also has to do their part. They're going to receive all kinds of money to help either their business or help their employees. But they have to do their part also."

Eligible businesses and non-profit organizations will receive wage subsidies up to 75 per cent, retroactive March 15, Ottawa announced. Interest-free loans of up to $40,000 will also be available tosmall businesses and not-for-profits in order to to help cover operating costs.

Basque advises anyone concerned about paying rent to speak to their MLA.

Opposition calls for more support

Opposition MLAs say the provincial government should consider doing more for tenants and landlords.

Liberal MLA Lisa Harris, Opposition critic for Social Development, said New Brunswick could look to other provinces.

"Nova Scotia is also helping landlords with a rent deferral program where they agree to defer rent for businesses that have had to shut down and the province will cover rent that can't be recovered," Harris said in a statement to CBC News.

"In BC, there's a program that offers $500 to cover the cost of rent. We think more can be done in New Brunswick."

Green Leader David Coon said provincial and federal officials should work with banks on a mortgage-deferral program, which would release some of the pressure on apartment owners.

The province must suspend rent increases, he added.

Coon hopes tenants can manage to make rent with government aid they receive, but he said the province will have to deal with the question of what happens once the crisis is over, the no-eviction order is lifted and tenants have accumulated debt to their landlords a debt that can't be paid all at once.

It's a concern for Basque, who wonders how tenants can be protected from retaliation once the pandemic and lockdown has passed.

"We don't have a tenants' association like other provinces, so we rely on government action or on owners of apartments to do the right thing and we hope they won't kick people out, for sure," he said.

A novel idea

The co-founders of Damage Deposit Refunds, a Saint John business that assists tenants in getting money entitled to them from their landlord, are pitching a compromise to address the issue.

Elizabeth Vickers and Loai Jaouni say illegal pet fees collected by some apartment owners for years that are now owed to tenants could be deducted from rent payments.

"That would reduce the amount of money they would owe the tenant and it would acknowledge that they owe the tenant that money," said Vickers.

"It would allow the tenant to still pay some of their rent. It would be a reduced amount, but then the landlord would receive hopefully enough to cover his mortgage and electric or whatever their arrangement was."

Jaouni said that could be a workable solution, but he hopes to see compassion from owners for affected tenants already shown in places like Prince Edward Island, where one landlord waived rent entirely, and in Wisconsin, where the landlord lowered rent to $100.

"I don't think they should bring the price down because of the illegal fees, if landlords want to be nice enough, like the landlord in Wisconsin," he said.

"That should be a separate thing because of the situation we're in with COVID-19."