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Letters: A renter’s rebuttal

'I do appreciate that one may feel that they are a good landlord and that they are helping the rental market here, but honestly, I don’t believe most renters want to rent. They wish they could own, but sadly the market is insanely high, and with people on and off the Coast owning multiple properties it just continues to drive the price up.'
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Letter to the editor.

Editor: 

In response to Connie Jordison’s piece in the June 17 issue on being a landlord. 

It’s really hard to read one complaining about the tax increases that one has to pay as a landlord. Although paying $200 more in taxes for schools, or extra property taxes to fund things like the water development strategy might seem annoying, it’s nothing compared to the exponential increase in the rental market. I’ve seen the average rent increase ~25-30 per cent on a two-to-three-bedroom house in Gibsons in the last two years. Even before that, pre-pandemic, the property purchase and rental rates were much lower.  

I do appreciate that one may feel that they are a good landlord and that they are helping the rental market here, but honestly, I don’t believe most renters want to rent. They wish they could own, but sadly the market is insanely high, and with people on and off the Coast owning multiple properties it just continues to drive the price up. This, along with a lack of new supply, compounds the issue for first-time home buyers. Property prices continually outpace people’s ability to save a down payment. 

I am really struggling to empathize with last week’s piece. No one likes a tax increase but that’s a cost of doing business if you are a landlord. At least the landlord gets the increase in value of your property. I wish I had their problems! 

Aaron Walker, Gibsons