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#PEI’s provincial residential landlord-tenant law is outdated, with almost no major changes in 30 years. A draft Bill - the Residential Tenancy Act - with improved protections for tenants, was shared by @infoPEI in February for public consultation... then COVID hit. #peipoli 1/n https://twitter.com/stewerogers/status/1337856253050150915
Island landlords have wanted changes to #PEI’s laws for awhile too. But they were... displeased with the draft Residential Tenancy Act. So they formed the “Residential Rental Association of PEI”, a local lobby group for landlord interests. https://rrap.ca/ #peipoli 2/n
You may have seen a story about the RRPA by @DveStewart published in the @PEIGuardian earlier this fall. That story suggested the organization represented “hundreds of tenants across the province”. About that... #PEI #peipoli 3/n https://www.theguardian.pe.ca/news/local/new-association-forms-on-pei-to-represent-landlords-tenants-on-big-issues-505157/
In June, the @peileg Standing Committee on Health & Social Development requested public input on @infoPEI’s Bill 37, An Act to Amend the Emergency Measures Act. The RRPA made a submission expressing concerns over the eviction moratorium during COVID’s first wave. 
#peipoli 4/n
#peipoli 4/n
You can read that submission for yourself & decide if you think the RRPA sounds like a group that’s “representing tenants”. #PEI #peipoli 5/n
https://www.assembly.pe.ca/sites/www.assembly.pe.ca/files/RRAP-bill-37-submission.pdf
https://www.assembly.pe.ca/sites/www.assembly.pe.ca/files/RRAP-bill-37-submission.pdf
In deciding if the RRPA is acting in the interests of both landlords & tenants, it may be useful to read the RRPA’s own organizational bylaws. In particular, I found “Article 4 – Aims, Objectives and Purposes” to be enlightening. #PEI #peipoli 6/n
https://rrap.ca/bylaws/
https://rrap.ca/bylaws/
Earlier this Fall, I heard from several sources that the RRPA was aggressively lobbying @dennyking’s Govt to delay formal introduction of the Residential Tenancy Act in the @peileg, and to water down the long overdue tenant protections in the Draft Bill. #PEI #peipoli 7/n
Last month, @hannahbethbell asked Minister @bradtrivers about the status of the Residential Tenancy Act in the @peileg. She suggested @InfoPEI was bending to the RRPA & delaying the new Act to Fall 2021. The Minister didn’t say when the Bill would be introduced. #PEI #peipoli 8/n
You can learn a little bit more about the proposed Residential Tenancy Act on the @InfoPEI page below. Weirdly, what you won’t find on there is a link to the Draft. You know, the one the RRPA disliked because of its pro-tenant reforms. 
#PEI #peipoli 9/n
https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/service/proposed-residential-tenancy-act
#PEI #peipoli 9/nhttps://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/service/proposed-residential-tenancy-act
It seems that: “Islanders will be invited to participate in a second round of consultations, at which time information will be provided on the outcomes of the first round of consultation.” A first round of consultations that was abruptly postponed by COVID. #PEI #peipoli 10/n
But of course, no timelines for those further consultations are given. And where’s that draft Bill gone @bradtrivers? #PEI #peipoli 11/n
Reforms to landlord-tenant laws are LONG overdue in #PEI. If it’s really “about people”, vulnerable tenants shouldn’t have to wait until Fall 2021 for those reforms, given that @dennyking’s Govt was moving this process forward 10 months ago. #PEI #peipoli 12/n
If you think the Residential Tenancy Act needs to be a top priority for the #PEI Govt in 2021, with an open & transparent process that landlord lobbyists can’t hijack behind the scenes, please let Premier @dennyking, Minister @bradtrivers & his Dept staff know. #PEI #peipoli 13/n
Email those folks & tell them Island tenants want & need action now:
Premier King: [email protected]
Minister Trivers: [email protected]
Residential Tenancy Act Consultations Legislative and Planning Coordinator: [email protected]
#PEI #peipoli #peihousingcrisis 14/14
Premier King: [email protected]
Minister Trivers: [email protected]
Residential Tenancy Act Consultations Legislative and Planning Coordinator: [email protected]
#PEI #peipoli #peihousingcrisis 14/14
PS - aargh! I botched the acronym for the new local landlord lobby multiple times in my thread.
Anyway, the lobbyists are the “RRAP”: https://rrap.ca/
(The RRPA is an acronym for PEI’s current & dated landlord-tenant law, the Rental of Residential Property Act.)
Anyway, the lobbyists are the “RRAP”: https://rrap.ca/
(The RRPA is an acronym for PEI’s current & dated landlord-tenant law, the Rental of Residential Property Act.)
PS2 - take note that one of the RRAP’s objectives is to: “provide a unified voice for rental property owners, to make representations to legislative and civic bodies on proposed and existing legislation to ensure that rental property owners are fairly and properly represented”.
PS3 (last one) - while I believe that gutting the Residential Tenancy Act of the pro-tenant reforms in its original Draft is the RRAP’s number one priority for 2021, I won’t be surprised if the RRAP enters the STR regulation debate too (on the side of the profiteers of course).
