Summary

This bill amends The Residential Tenancies Act to cap annual rent increases during a tenant's lease to the percentage change in Saskatchewan's Consumer Price Index, with exemptions for new buildings, certain types of accommodations, and units where the landlord and tenant agree to increases in exchange for capital improvements or new services. When a unit in a building with four or more units becomes vacant, the landlord may raise the rent to the average of comparable units in the same building.

Under this bill, landlords could not raise rent during a tenant's lease by more than the annual change in Saskatchewan's Consumer Price Index (a measure of inflation published monthly by Statistics Canada). The allowed increase percentage would be calculated by averaging the previous year's CPI data and published in the Saskatchewan Gazette by August 31 each year. Landlords and tenants could agree to larger increases if the landlord makes capital improvements or adds services. The rent cap would not apply to hotel rooms, caretaker units, employee housing, boarding house rooms, or rental units in newly built buildings for the first five years of occupancy. In buildings with four or more units, when a tenant moves out, the landlord could raise the rent to match the average of similar units in that building before a new tenant moves in. The bill does not specify how 'similar or comparable' units are determined.