This bill amends New Brunswick’s Residential Tenancies Act to cap landlord-initiated rent increases at 3% effective on or after February 1, 2025, and to treat any notice that proposes a larger increase as a 3% notice. It creates a regulated, adjudicated exception process so landlords may apply to a residential tenancies officer to approve a larger increase.
The changes also rework notice and timing rules, require the New Brunswick Housing Corporation to perform and publish an annual review of the maximum increase, and include transitional rules that preserve certain pre-existing mediated agreements and address notices dealt with before the amendments take effect. The result is statutory predictability for tenants but new administrative and evidentiary obligations for landlords and the provincial tenancy system.
At a Glance
What It Does
The Act sets a 3% ceiling on rent increases for any increase effective on or after Feb. 1, 2025, and deems higher notices to be 3%. Landlords may apply, under regulations, to a residential tenancies officer for approval of a higher increase; the officer can approve in whole or part. The New Brunswick Housing Corporation must conduct and publish an annual review of the maximum increase.
Who It Affects
All residential landlords and tenants in New Brunswick, residential tenancies officers who adjudicate increase applications, the New Brunswick Housing Corporation that will perform the annual review, and property managers and legal advisors who draft notices and application packages.
Why It Matters
The bill converts informal rent-control practice into a statutory rule with an administrative exception path and predictable review metrics, changing revenue forecasting for landlords and creating new compliance workflows and evidentiary burdens for applications to exceed the cap.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill tightens when and how landlords may raise rent. It amends the timing rules so that, unless landlord and tenant agree in writing otherwise, landlords cannot raise rent during the first consecutive 12‑month period of a tenancy and may increase rent no more than once in any other consecutive 12‑month period.
That change limits frequency of increases and requires written agreement to override the first‑year restriction.
It changes the notice review process: if a tenant asks a residential tenancies officer to review a rent‑increase notice, the officer must ask the landlord to demonstrate the notice is a separate document (not bundled with another receipt or notice). The officer must set aside the notice if the landlord cannot satisfy that test, and must confirm it if the landlord proves separation to the officer’s satisfaction.The substantive cap is implemented in a new section that prohibits any increase greater than 3% effective on or after Feb. 1, 2025, and automatically treats any landlord notice that proposes a larger percentage as a notice for 3%.
Landlords who consider a greater increase necessary must apply to a residential tenancies officer in the manner and with the information prescribed by regulation; the officer may approve an application in whole or in part if regulatory requirements are met.Regulations flesh out the exception route: the regulation added by the bill identifies incurred capital expenditures for renovations as the qualifying proof a landlord can use and requires use of a form with supporting documentation. The regulations set an upper regulatory limit for approved increases (9%) and identify the factors the New Brunswick Housing Corporation must consider in its annual review — inflation, CMHC rental market surveys, and vacancy rates — and require publication of review results on or before June 1 each year.Two transitional elements matter in practice: mediated agreements reached before the Act that jointly accepted increases above 3% remain valid; and notices for increases above 3% that were confirmed by a residential tenancies officer before these amendments take effect are converted to 3% (or reduced to 3% for the portions of spread increases that exceed 3%).
The Act comes into force on Feb. 1, 2025 and expressly applies to tenancies and agreements that predate that date.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Unless landlords and tenants agree in writing otherwise, landlords may not increase rent during the first consecutive 12 months of a tenancy and may increase rent no more than once in any other consecutive 12‑month period.
A residential tenancies officer must require a landlord to prove a rent‑increase notice is a document separate from any other notice or receipt; the officer will set the notice aside if the landlord cannot satisfy that test.
Regulations require exception applications to be made on a form with proof that the landlord incurred capital expenditures for renovations; the regulation sets the upper limit for any approved increase at 9%.
The New Brunswick Housing Corporation must consider inflation, CMHC rental market surveys, and vacancy rates in an annual review of the maximum increase and must publish the review results on its website by June 1 each year.
Mediated agreements entered into before the Act that mutually agree to an increase above 3% stay valid, while confirmed notices for increases above 3% decided before commencement are treated as 3% (or reduced to 3% for portions exceeding 3%).
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Limits on timing and procedural tests for notices
This grouping changes the timing rules that control how often and when landlords can raise rent: it bars increases in the first consecutive 12 months unless the parties agree in writing and caps increases to once per consecutive 12‑month period thereafter. The amendments also introduce a concrete evidentiary test for notices: when a tenant seeks review, the landlord must show the increase notice was a separate document; failure to satisfy the officer results in the notice being set aside. Practically, landlords must change how they prepare and serve notices to keep them separate from receipts or other communications.
3% ceiling and deemed-notice rule
Section 11.12 establishes the substantive rule: any rent increase taking effect on or after Feb. 1, 2025 cannot exceed 3%, and an otherwise larger notice is legally treated as a 3% notice. That creates an automatic statutory cap rather than a guidance standard and immediately limits the legal effect of over‑stated notices.
Regulated application to exceed the cap
Section 11.13 allows landlords to apply to a residential tenancies officer, in the form and with the materials the regulations require, for permission to exceed the 3% cap. The officer’s approval is discretionary and may be partial; the bill delegates the detailed eligibility criteria and the maximum allowable approved increase to regulation. The practical consequence is an adjudicative, evidence‑based route rather than a blanket exemption.
Mandated annual review by New Brunswick Housing Corporation
This section requires the provincial housing corporation to perform an annual review of the maximum rent increase and to publish results per regulatory terms. The regulation lists specific factors to consider (inflation, CMHC rental market surveys, vacancy rates) and mandates publication on the NBHC website by June 1, embedding a predictable review timetable into law.
Grandfathering and treatment of pre‑commencement notices
Transitional rules preserve mediated agreements reached before the Act that accepted increases greater than 3% and convert confirmed pre‑commencement notices above 3% into 3% increases (and reduce the portion above 3% for spread increases). The clause ensures certain negotiated outcomes remain enforceable while aligning previously adjudicated notices with the new statutory ceiling.
What regulations prescribe: proof, form, upper limit and review factors
The regulation added by the Act specifies that an exception application will succeed if the landlord establishes capital expenditures for renovations, requires use of a form and supporting proof, fixes the regulatory upper limit for approved increases at 9%, and sets the factors and publication timing for the NBHC’s annual review. That shifts key substantive boundaries from statute into delegated regulations and ties the exception mechanism to capital‑spending evidence.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Tenants across New Brunswick — they gain a statutory ceiling that limits any scheduled increase to 3% from Feb. 1, 2025, which increases predictability of housing costs and constrains sudden rent shocks.
- Lower‑income and rent‑sensitive tenants — the combination of the cap and limits on frequency (no increase during the first 12 months absent written agreement) strengthens short‑term affordability protections for vulnerable renters.
- New Brunswick Housing Corporation and planners — the mandated annual review and publication provide a consistent data point and process for monitoring rent pressure and informing policy or program responses.
- Landlords who invest in capital renovations — they have a clear, regulated path to recover some renovation costs via an application supported by proof of capital expenditures, rather than relying on market increases alone.
Who Bears the Cost
- Small and fixed‑income landlords — statutory limits on increases and a regulated exception process (with documentation and a capped regulatory ceiling) can compress revenue growth and increase compliance costs, especially where operating costs rise faster than 3%.
- Property managers and landlords’ legal teams — they must rework notice templates, adopt separate‑document procedures, prepare application packages with proof of capital expenditures, and absorb administrative time and potential hearings.
- Residential tenancies officers and the adjudicative system — officers will see additional workloads to review notices, adjudicate exception applications, and apply the separate‑document test, requiring administrative capacity and clear evidentiary guidance.
- Municipalities and social services — if the cap reduces private rental returns materially, longer‑term housing supply or maintenance decisions could be affected, shifting pressures to social housing and homelessness services.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is straightforward: the Act prioritizes tenant affordability and predictability by imposing a clear 3% cap and procedural safeguards, but doing so constrains landlords’ revenue streams and investment incentives; the bill attempts to square that circle with a regulated, discretionary exception route tied to renovation spending, which transfers the difficult judgment calls from market bargaining to administrative adjudication and regulatory drafting.
The bill embeds a simple numeric cap but leaves hard policy choices to regulations and adjudication. By delegating the exception eligibility, the upper permitted exception percentage, the application form and required information to regulation, the legislature sets a framework but relies on the executive to define important boundaries — meaning outcomes will depend heavily on how those regulations are drafted and applied by officers.
The separate‑document evidentiary test is operationally specific but raises implementation questions: what counts as a separate document in electronic communications, how strict will officers be, and whether a single mailing that includes multiple pages will trigger set‑aside. The 9% regulatory upper limit for exceptions addresses some concerns about runaway increases, but it may not cover unusual cost shocks (tax hikes, insurance, major structural repairs), leaving landlords who face such shocks with limited remedies other than pursuing the officer route and potentially facing cash‑flow shortfalls.
Finally, the transitional carve‑outs (preserving mediated agreements) and the treatment of pre‑commencement confirmed notices create a patchwork of outcomes across tenancies. Some landlords retain pre‑existing negotiated increases, while others are constrained; that unevenness can create market distortions and fairness questions that will play out in individual disputes and in broader rental market dynamics.
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