Several issues to consider when moving between units within the same building

Q: I have been living in an apartment building for several years. Recently, a unit identical to mine became available on a lower floor. In early November, I wrote to my landlord asking to be allowed to move into that unit on Jan. 1. My landlord is willing to let me to move, and tells me that the new rent will be two per cent more than my current rent. He has also told me that he will charge me a further a one-time fee of $600 to allow me to move. Someone told me a fee to get an apartment is illegal. Can the landlord charge me the $600?

A: While there are good reasons for the landlord to want to charge that fee, whether it is legal depends on what the fee is called.

Although you will be moving within the same building, from a legal perspective you will be moving into a new unit. You need to terminate your current tenancy and enter into a new tenancy agreement for the new unit. Normally, a tenant needs to give their landlord 60 days written notice to the end of their lease (or to the end of any month in a month-tomonth tenancy). A tenant may also reach an agreement with their landlord to terminate their tenancy on shorter notice. It is not usual for a tenant to pay a fee to the landlord in order to be released from their tenancy early, and that is legal.

Just as with tenants who move into a building, when tenants move between units within a building, landlords usually incur expenses. For example, your landlord will likely pay for minor repairs to remedy wear and tear in your current unit. When an existing tenant moves to a newly vacated unit in the same building, a landlord pays for such repairs to two units as opposed to one. Also, if you move into the vacant unit, rather than someone new to the building, the landlord may well lose a month’s rent waiting to rent your current unit.

As to the rent for the new unit, you and your landlord are able to negotiate a new rent. Megally, the rent you pay now for your current unit is not relevant, nor is the amount that the previous tenant paid for the lower unit. the setting of a new rent on unit turnover between tenants is called vacancy decontrol. Many other provinces, other countries and U.S. states have no rent control at all. In that situation, landlords and tenants negotiate a new rent at every tenancy renewal. However, for most rental units in Ontario, free-market rent negotiation only takes place on turnover.

For rent increases in 2016, the guideline that applies to continuing tenants is 2.0 per cent. Cut since you will be moving to a new unit, the guideline is not relevant to you. the landlord could want a higher rent because of rising costs market shifts that make certain areas of the city more attractive to renters, or many other factors.

In negotiating a new rent, a landlord can charge a higher rent in the first month of a new tenancy. If the $600 is called part of the rent for the first month, then it is legal.

However, a section in the .esidential tenancies Act — held over from the days before vacancy decontrol — provides that a landlord may not charge a separate fee to a tenant as a condition for granting a tenancy. therefore, a separate charge or fee said to be for granting a new tenancy would not be legal.