New Residential Tenancy Branch Complaints Process
A statement was released by the Residential Tenancy Branch regarding their complaints process. LandlordBC continues to actively advocated to the Branch and Housing Minister Eby on behalf of our members and the broader sector to secure more resources (financial and human) to ensure that the RTB is positioned to provide timely access to justice for both landlords and tenants. While we appreciate their endeavours as outlined in this statement, we will continue to press for continued improvements within the Branch and the hearing process including but not limited to the addition of more Arbitrators, enhanced training for all current and future Arbitrators and, establishment of the necessary infrastructure to record hearings. The RTB statement reads as follows:
Ensuring landlords and tenants have access to fair and impartial dispute resolution proceedings is central to the Residential Tenancy Branch’s mission. We are also committed to improving our services so that landlords and tenants have a better experience when accessing our services. We recognize there are times when we do not meet our service users’ expectations. Drawing on guidance from the BC Ombudsperson and feedback from service users and our staff, we have taken steps to make our complaints process more accessible, transparent, and fair.
To be clear, no government employee can interfere with a decision or the decision-making process of the director, which are final and binding. The complaint process is not an alternative to pursuing relief by way of legislated steps such as a review consideration or judicial review. However, reviewing complaints can provide the RTB with valuable information about whether policies, processes and procedures require changes, and may help identify areas that would benefit from enhanced training.
We have published information about the process on our website which sets out the steps taken to review a complaint, timelines for responding and how complaints should be submitted. Please feel free to refer clients to this information.