McGinty Giveth McGinty Taketh...

...only time will tell if tenants are the screwee or the screwer!

Landlords cry foul on HST measure

13 April 2010 05:38

 

Landlords say the McGuinty government is duping Ontario’s 1.3 million tenant households by saying measures introduced yesterday will protect them from the HST.

And by refusing to help landlords absorb the harmonized sales tax, the province will force them to cut back on badly needed maintenance and repairs, they added.

“The government has done nothing to protect tenants from the HST,” said Vince Brescia, president of the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO). “All they have done is kick landlords.

“With no assistance and no way to pass on costs, landlords will have no option but to slash repairs and maintenance,” he added in an interview.

The Liberal government is closing a loophole in rent regulations that would have allowed landlords to apply for above-guideline rent increases based on the new 13 per cent tax on utilities, which takes effect in July.

Instead, the new HST costs for utilities will be reflected in rent only as they affect the Consumer Price Index, which the province uses to calculate the annual rent increase guideline.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said the government wants to “ensure we protect renters from any costs associated with the HST on energy, and being fair to landlords, they can factor those costs in over time through the Consumer Price Index ... which is accounted for on an annual basis.

Landlords would also be able to recoup their costs in rents they set for new tenants, ministry officials said of the measure.