Rental Eviction Rules – No Evictions Allowed After March 30, 2020.

B.C.’s new measure of banning rental evictions during the COVID-19 crisis left one big question mark: Does the no-eviction rule apply retroactively to tenants in recently purchased homes, where the new owner intends to occupy the property, or where existing eviction notices served before the announcement grandfathered in?

Richard Bell of Bell Alliance – a leading real estate lawyer in B.C. received advice directly from the provincial government and provides clarification:
“Up until today [March 30], if an eviction notice has already been given to the tenants to vacate because the buyers are to take possession, that eviction still stands. However, any new home purchase contract, from today onwards, you will not be able to evict the tenant, under any section of the legislation.”

However, the eviction ban will impact sales of currently tenanted homes because new buyers will not be permitted to evict sitting tenants from March 30 onwards until the ban is lifted.