Behind on rent increases?

Q. My great renter has been on a disability pension for the last six years so I haven’t increased the rent. I recently learned that he now has a good job with the government, so would like to increase the rent. I’ve done some research and learned that BC’s rent controls limited increases to 3.7%, 3.7%, 4.0%, 4.0% and 3.8% in the last five years respectively. That’s a cumulative increase of 20.7% which is just the right amount I need to get the rent back to market rate. Do I have to use a special form to increase by this amount?

A. There is no special form because you can’t do this! The simple answer regarding rent increases is, “use it or lose it.” You are permitted to increase rents by the rent control limit once every twelve months. If – for whatever reason – you choose not to raise the rent in any given year, you cannot carry the foregone increase into a future year. Even though you haven’t raised the rent for six years, you can only raise it by 3.2 % in 2010 .

--LandlordMentor