Oak Bay tenant calls for provincial, municipal tenant support following 'renoviction'
Province and district dispute who needs to take responsibility when tenants are evicted over renovations
Neil McKinlay and his family were forced to leave their home of 28 years in Oak Bay, B.C., last month, after the building's renters lost a two-year battle with their landlord and were evicted for renovations.
Now paying significantly more at his new rental, McKinlay is calling on the province and District of Oak Bay to enhance tenant assistance and crack down on landlords who evict tenants to renovate — known as renoviction — and then, potentially, rent out units at a higher price.
The fate of McKinlay's building was decided last fall, when the the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) sided with his landlord, Andrew Rebeyka, in a decision viewed by the CBC, ordering all tenants out of the building by the end of March.
"It was a heartache because this had become our home," said McKinlay, who had fought the RTB proceedings in his free time.
"It's also, to be honest, a little bit embarrassing to say, here I am … I've been evicted."
'Expensive and stressful'
In the neighbouring municipalities of Victoria and Esquimalt, renovicted tenants are entitled to assistance such as compensation based on their length of tenancy, moving expenses, help relocating and, when renovations are complete, the right of first refusal to return to their unit for 20 per cent below market rate.
Those policies do not exist in Oak Bay.
McKinlay and another former tenant of the 14-unit building at 2161 Haultain St., say they were each given one month's rent when they were evicted — which they say made up just a fraction of their moving expenses and the higher rent prices they now pay.
For McKinlay's two-bedroom apartment, his family had paid about $1,400 monthly. Now, he says, they pay about $1,000 more a month.
Joanne Thorwaldson, who lived in the building for five years, now lives across the street. Her rent, she says, has doubled.
"The process was really expensive and stressful," she said.
"The toll, I think, is going to be yet to be told, because of course my rate of pay didn't double. My need for food doesn't change."
A "large majority of suites" in the building were rented below the market rate prior to the evictions, according to the Capital Regional District's Regional Housing Acquisition Strategy, dated January 2024, which listed the building among several for sale or recently sold properties that could be acquired as affordable housing.
Tenancy branch sides with landlord
In 2021, B.C. introduced changes to "eliminate most renovictions" by requiring landlords to prove to the RTB that necessary upgrades or repairs are only possible if the tenancy is ended, prior to issuing any evictions. The province also launched an online portal in 2024, to make clear to landlords what the conditions are for ending a tenancy and the risks associated with evicting tenants in bad faith.
RTB documents show that in Rebeyka's application to the tenancy branch, he argued the 65-year-old Oak Bay building had aging components that needed to be replaced.
He cited inspections from multiple contractors he hired who found the plumbing lines were about 40 years past their typical life expectancy. Rebeyka also said he wanted to upgrade the building's electrical system, add in-suite laundry, install new kitchens and redo the flooring.
According to Rebeyka, the building would be uninhabitable due to the renovations for at least a year, with water and electricity shut off for a significant portion of that time.
But the landlord's Oak Bay tenants raised concerns to the RTB that Rebeyka had a history of buying properties and then evicting tenants to perform renovations, and questioned the "good faith" of his intentions.
The CBC contacted Rebeyka over email multiple times seeking an interview and comment, but did not hear back in time for publication.
In its decision, RTB arbitrator C. Amsdorf wrote that Rebeyka had all the permits in place for the work, and agreed that it was "not reasonable" for tenants to remain in the building due to the extent of the renovations.
"I acknowledge that the Landlord has been involved in other situations where they have evicted occupants of a building for large scale renovations," Amsdorf wrote in the decision. "However, I do not find this is evidence of bad faith, as the Landlord is legally entitled to apply for this type of an order of possession, provided they meet the criteria."
McKinlay says he feels a closer look should be taken at landlords with a history of renovictions.
"While I respect the outcome of the RTB process — and appreciate its very existence — I am curious how other neighbourhood buildings of similar age and maintenance histories can undergo significant renovations without evicting tenants," said McKinlay.
Douglas King, executive director of Victoria-based non-profit Together Against Poverty, says the situation shows the current system isn't up to the task of preventing renovictions, particularly as it puts a burden on tenants, who are often under-resourced compared to landlords.
"It's often left to the tenants to try to prove that the landlord doesn't require vacancy to do the repairs that they stated, and that's not realistic," he said.
Renovictions don't just affect the tenants who are displaced, King says. It can create more demand for subsidized housing, putting further pressure on limited support and available units.
"When we fail to protect low income housing stock, one of the only places that can be affordable to someone on disability or seniors … everybody pays the price," he said.
Province, district dispute responsibility
Oak Bay Mayor Kevin Murdoch says he would support introducing similar renter assistance policies in his municipality to those that exist in Victoria and Esquimalt, but thinks the responsibility should lie with the province to standardize tenant assistance measures, so that all B.C. renters have the same rights.
Murdoch says it's B.C., through the RTB — not municipalities — that should be in charge of making sure tenants are protected from bad faith renovictions and supported if eviction is necessary.
"Our preference and most preferences in the province would be that the province look at this carefully, because it appears to not be working the way it was intended to work," he said.
"They're supposed to be addressing this."
Between July 2021, when B.C. introduced the new renoviction application process, and March 2025, the Ministry of Housing said there were 209 applications filed to evict tenants to complete major renovations. Of the applications that were addressed in that period, 87 were withdrawn, 68 were dismissed, 29 were granted landlord possession, 15 were settled with landlord possession, and seven were mixed decisions containing multiple units.
According to the Ministry of Housing, the RTB conducts post-eviction audits to ensure landlords follow through on their reasons for evictions.
McKinlay says he feels there should be a government registry to track all developers who have a history of renovicting tenants from multiple properties, including those allowed to do so by the RTB.
"Tracking developers who renovict in a serial manner, as my former landlord does, allows the government to raise the question, 'Are all these truly necessary?'"
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon says the province will begin to post decisions on rental-related fines — including false evictions — online in June, to provide an opportunity for people to see which buildings are illegally acting as "serial renovictors." B.C. has also increased fines for those abusing the system.
However, he says he feels it's on municipalities — like Oak Bay — to provide the support McKinlay is asking for.
"There are a lot of measures that we put in place to support renters, and if there's more opportunities we'll certainly look at that," Kahlon said.
"At this point, we believe local governments should be stepping up and putting their own policies in place."
With no one claiming responsibility for these protections, it's unclear how — and if — change will ever come. And even if it does, it's too late for McKinlay and his former neighbours.
"Someone asked me the other day if I've begun to settle into our new home, and I'm not sure that's possible after this experience," said McKinlay. "My sense of home has been altered by this."
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