| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/9/2006 9:48:36 AM | I got notice last week that my place is going from 700 to 1050 on November 1st. Doing a bit of research myself, they are allowed to legally increase rent twice a year 180 days apart. I'm not impressed with this mainly due to the fact that my apartment sucks, wasn't worth 700, and certianly not worth 1,050.....
I make a very decent salary and the increase is really going to hurt. I really don't know how people that make less that say 40 or even 50k a year can make due in this city. I mean I make more than that, do not have any insane bills, basically rent, truck, ins, visa, student loan etc. I mean when I was in school I worked part time, went to school full time and could still afford my own place. Your telling me that at 31, with a degree and a damn good job, I need to look for a roommate again? Or even a 2nd job? Thats sad.
I'm glad that Calgary (Alberta) is in a boom, but its things like this that ruin it for everyone. So what are we saying Calgary is only for the rich?
Anyway, went to see a realtor yesterday and have an appointment with a Mortage Broker later, I doubt I'll qualify since I don't have a down payment and not really ready. I was planning to buy something in a year or 18 months since at that time my student loan will be done and my truck will be paid for. Hope all goes well. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/9/2006 9:54:26 AM | Good luck Tenzen. My brother and his wife were able to get a mortgage with no down payment in BC. Hopefully you can too.
I am lucky that friends of mine own the house I am in and all I am paying is the mortgage....bills are also included in rent. They rented me this house to give me a break and I am so thankful as I see rents increasing everywhere. I feel bad for everyone going through that.
It is looking like Calgary is for the rich. I'm thinking of packing up and moving back to BC soon. I have had a lot of my nursing friends do that as they can afford houses there and we get paid more out there. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/9/2006 9:59:23 AM | I posted as soon as I seen this thread, but went back to read soem of the other posts. I think some may be missing the point, I'm not upset that my rent went up, I was fully expecting it actually. What I have a problem with is a $350 increase on a 500 sq/ft junk apartment. If it had been 50 or 100 or shoot even 150, I probably wouln't have said a word. Yes costs have gone up, but not $350/unit or even more as some others have gotten even bigger increases.
So increase yes, gouging no! Just because you can doesn't mean you should. I used to have a pretty high respect for my landlord/managment company. Now I just think they are selfish greedy pricks, and once I get a new place, or buy a place, they will never get any business from me, or anyone I know again. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/9/2006 10:33:37 AM | I bought my condo 2 1/2 years ago through a program called the Home Program
http://www.homeprogram.ca/
You have to attend 2 sessions and they have realtors, mortgage brokers and such to help you. If you make under a certain amount they fund 1/2 of your down payment up to $2,500.00, I believe. If you are over then they contribute $1,000.00 to your lawyer's fees.....that is how it was when I went through the program.
Can't hurt to check it out. 
Don't have an answer on the whole rent thing sorry. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/9/2006 2:41:27 PM | | I have a yearly rental agreement which comes up again October 1, 2006. The only "under the door notice" I got was from a few months ago, saying thay everyone's rent would go up $30 because of the increase in water rates. Other than that, I havent heard of anything official. Does the landlord have to give me 3 months notice on a yearly lease or 90 days? LOL.....I want to go on vacation with a sigh of releif and some money in my pocket to buy my Grandson some stuff. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/9/2006 2:49:13 PM | The only thing that can be done, is build about 100,000 houses and apartment complexes amongst edmonton and calgary!
Supply and Demand! Theres people out there working and live in a box somewhere, making as much or more than us!, theyll pay even more to have a place to live, but i agree it totally suck's!!!
But im pretty sure you need 6 month's notice before you rent can increase? | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/9/2006 5:05:17 PM | The same thing just happend to my friend in her apartment - they increased the rent to almost double - and she found out through the grapevine that the owners want to force people out because they want to sell as condo's...
They already sold a few units as condos (why anyone would buy in that disgusting building is beyond my concept) -
thats another question is that legal? Seems like blackmail. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/9/2006 5:16:13 PM | | ...I swear this place is turning American.... | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/9/2006 6:04:09 PM | Well, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one in this boat...
As for notice, they have to give you three months rental increases...
My current plan of action is still to see what I can do and what can be done....then maybe start looking elsewhere in smaller towns for a place to live and a job...I have some good connections up north as well as in central alberta....I hate to leave Calgary as I was born here and grew up; however, it doesn't seem to be the best option to stay right now and provide a great life for my daughter...
*shrug* Who knows what may happen in the next few months with the way that gas prices are going and all that and who knows what the economy will bring... | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/9/2006 9:30:23 PM | Here is the reason that rent controls were tried and then removed in Calgary: "Historically, rent controls haven't worked because they have acted as price ceilings that prevented landlords from charging higher than an artificial threshold set by government. That impacted the quality and quantity of the rental stock, dissuading landlords from upgrading or repairing their property." (http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=1664dcf0-96d5-49b1-896a-729df12dd36d ).
I think the best way to keep the rent reasonable is to rent privately, rather than from a management company, and be good tennants. Landlords have probably had good and bad tennants but if they have good tennants, sometimes they'd rather keep them than hassle with a little more money for lousy tennants.
As for taxes, they are usually about 1% of the city assessed real property value (http://dmzwww2.gov.calgary.ab.ca/fairshare/script/asmt_SearchOptions.asp) so if the house is assessed at 200,000, the taxes are 2000. Many properties sell well above the real property value these days but I'm not convinced that the hike in rent is justified by taxes. I think that everyone suddenly feels like they are "neavous riche" and therefore a little greedy and that's why the rents are skyrocketing. They had a house worth a quarter mill, 5 years later it's worth half a million and voila, everyone's a millionaire and wanting more. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/10/2006 12:43:49 AM | I think it's pretty disgusting how rents are shooting up in Calgary, and in some cases it's only to "push" people out... so that the house can be leveled, or apartments turned into condo's.
The best part? The city of Calgary (yet again) is taking no stance on this, nor are any of the oil companies who want SO many workers... yet aren't trying to setup any living accomodations.
If this trend continues, I could honestly see a lack of basic workers (for movie houses, coffee shops) for the downtown, based on that there probably won't be any affordable living in the downtown, and who wants to work a crappy job, and still pay 76$/month extra for a bus pass?
Anyways, I'm thankful I live in a good place, where the owners aren't trying to grab for tons of cash. Hopefully this continues. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/10/2006 1:11:23 AM | Who should take control of the landowners that charge rent for other people to live in their properties or who want to demolish 1960s 2 bedroom houses and replace them with 9 unit apartment buildings? The city? Maybe we should let the socialists run the show and everyone, regardless of means, is entitled to a nice home with a garden. Perhaps communism is a good idea and government controlled oil companies should build row housing and high rise slums so everyone has a hole in the wall for sleeping when they're not working.
I sympathize with people that are facing huge rent increases but if people are willing to pay the extra money for the choice spots, then people that aren't willing or able to pay must move to other parts of the city. It's not nice, but Calgary isn't the first city in the country that had an economic shift resulting in people being pushed into districts that were less trendy but affordable. Hey, Inglewood was really poor or cheap or something like that in the early 90s and then it became trendy because all the poor students and artists lived there. Maybe the people that are being pushed out of the current trendy areas just have to start a new trendy area (like every generation before them). Someone mentioned that Forest Lawn is cheap. Bowness used to be like Forest Lawn and it's almost trendy. Kensington was definitely the slums back in the 60s and look at it now. I don't think people that borrow/rent property should tell people that own property what they can or cannot do with that property. The borrowers will only be there until something better comes along but the owners are in for the long run. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 8/10/2006 7:27:24 AM | As much as having your rent double suddenly is shocking and appalling, there is a huge increase of what landlords need just to break even. Now I am not so sure about the large complexes that are run by a company, but I know that in order for me to break even if I rented out my house it would cost the renter 1750 a month plus utilities (for a 3 bedroom bungalow 10 mins drive to downtown).
Thats insane....I know, I pay it every month. Owning a house makes it for sure worthwhile to pay the high prices, but to say that all these landlords or so greedy is a generalization that is most likely untrue in a lot of cases. Someone would probably think I was gouging them and getting rich of the 1750 a month, never realising that it barely covers the mortgage and property taxes. Not to mention repairs and maintenance that would all have to be done at the owners expense.
What it comes down to is that these are the prices for a reason, its supply and demand and if you don't like it or can't afford it, it's time to move. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 9/3/2006 5:24:20 PM | I checked out Boardwalk's website today just for a laugh. Most of the 2 bedroom apartments in Calgary are well over $1000/month with the same damage deposit. Most of the 2 bedroom apartments in Edmonton are over $900/month with a $600 damage deposit. I even checked out the apartment complex that I first rented from in Edmonton. It was $425/month in 1997. It's now $940/month.
Ploot!
What was that noise?
Oh, that was the middle class being squished out of existance! | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 9/3/2006 7:08:23 PM | ^^^Does Ploot mean that there'll be more people to take on beign mothers and/or joining the armed forces......??
We have a GM meeting coming up where I live, the beauty of it is that we are not voting for a rent increase, but we are voting for new laminate floors to replace our 4 year old carpet.....
it is nice that some places still take care of their tenants. | |
|
| |
| Rental Increases
Posted: 9/3/2006 8:07:42 PM | I just thought I'd post this link for all of those pulling numbers out of thin air. Not that they're wrong, but I'm sure there's people who might want to read the actual "letter of the law":
http://governmentservices.gov.ab.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=section:landlords
That has everything you need in order to be bitter about the current housing ordeal. :-S | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 9/3/2006 8:27:36 PM | Tenzen, I have two things for you.
First, I have a coworker who is in the same situation and is looking for a room mate, that for anyone who is also looking, message me and ill fill you in.
Second, when I bought my first house in Calgary, I bought it with very little credit and no down payment. That was year ago, but if youd like the info on the mortgage company that did it for me, im happy to pass it along. I know they still do this because I know of other people who have used them recently. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 9/3/2006 11:36:06 PM |
We do have to remember, it wasn't even 5 years ago that the vacancy rate was high and landlords were offering free month(s) of rent - other incentives, and renting units way below cost just to keep $ coming in.
There were vacancy signs EVERYWHERE when I was looking for an apartment (for my mother) a year and a half ago...
Now my mother's rent is going up seventy five bucks. By the sounds of all the insane rental increases, hers doesn't sound as bad anymore.
Also, after reading this thread, the amount of my mortgage doesn't seem so high anymore... | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 9/4/2006 12:06:03 AM | After reading these posts, I am just glad to be living in small town AB. Been here since 89, kids born and raised here, yet my family of origin all live in Edmonton, and I hear about these increases, and hope my mom and sis decided to move here. I live in a 4 plex type 3 bedroom, condo they call them. The rent here was 495 about 5 years ago. I pay 595, and not sure if we'll get an increase or not. I did look in Lloydmisnter, but the prices were much the same as writen here.
the place is spacious, with my own hookups for laundry, which I love. all I have to worry about is the place, and my little balcony. seems like a good deal to me...when the toilet goes, phhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, then i just pick up the phone and call Earl the maintenenance man. I do pay for gas, water, pwer ect...and those costs are about the same as living in a house.
being a previous home owner, (I rent now because we are still in paperworkdivorcemode), i am not interested in buying another home at this time, maybe in the spring??? I found the costs of repairs, etc...doing it alone to much for me, so I choose to rent for now, maybe forever. my hope is that when I am ready again, the prices go down...maybe, look at gas prices...anything can happen.
maybe I'm just not ready to grow up again yet... | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 9/4/2006 8:12:03 AM | I too just got a rent increase of $40 a month.  I feel fortunate not to be gouged like many others who have replied to this post. Although I'm not thrilled with the rent increase, I feel very fortunate because my rent increase does not take effect until December 1, 2006, and will remain the same until August 2007, with a one year lease. There are other units in my condo complex that are being charged more in rent when they first move in, than I will be paying after my increase. I know, it's all the same property, the same size units with all the same amenities, yet we're all paying different rent prices. !?!?!?!?!?!?! | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 9/4/2006 8:41:51 AM | | I 've been reading this thread and am feeling fortunate my rent has not gone up. If it did go up by alot up ,I'd be packing and heading back to BC. All you hear on the news is how Alberta is in great need for workers. But when you figure out your hourly wage and your living expenses, its barely making ends meat. Especially for retail and other service type industries where you can bring up your starting wage up and make people (outside the province) believe they are making fairly good money . Just to find out that its really minimum wage after your costs of living. whats the motivation for people outside or within the province to move? | |
|
Jestie
|
Joined: 10/20/2005
Msg: 48 | |
| Rental Increases
Posted: 9/4/2006 9:04:52 AM | I am soooo fortunate that I bought my house last year. It isn't huge nor in the city but the city boom sure affected us out here too.
I really feel bad for those whose rents have doubled. Heck.. sometimes I even find it hard to make ends meet here! In fact, I'm even pondering looking for a room mate to help. I have no idea how some of you single parents in the city are coping.
Rental controls DO work.. they have worked in Saskatchewan for years. (and cut the garbage of how Saskatchewan has nothing yada yada... single parents on limited incomes DO still live there and have to pay the bills just the same as here) Laws should be made BY the people FOR the people.. not for the money hungry corporate porkchoppers to insanely profit off of. Hops off my Tide box now lol. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 9/4/2006 9:58:38 AM | yes rental controls do work, if done appropriately.
manhattan has rent control. the most expensive real esate areas in north america have rent controls.
how do these work? its not imposed unilaterally across the board to every property. rather, some units are and some units are not covered by this. this maintains a healthy stock of affordable housing, while also serving to allow full market units, and then everything in between so there is a full range of rental product.
its not that difficult to do, just takes some time and some politicians with the fortitude to implement it. and finally, it cannot be implemented in every market as it can only really be effectively implemented in a real estate market that is healthy and is increasing beyond the means of the local residents. | |
|
| Rental Increases
Posted: 9/27/2006 7:23:18 PM | Mine is going up to $759 November 1st. THEN May 1st it goes up to $989!
Time to start packing = again!
^^BG^^ | |
|
Home
login 
