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MLA must deal with increasing pad rent for Creston seniors

These increases appear to be a form of legalized extortion as opposed to a flat rate of perhaps $7 annually, which makes more sense...

To the Editor:

(Open letter to Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall)

I am informing you of a dilemma affecting the seniors who live in mobile home parks and pay pad rent. Every spring, the landlord gives notice of the rent increase up to as much as 3.95 per cent under the rules of the Residential Tenancy Act. This is a digital compounding percentage over the previous years’ interest, which was compounded on top of the year before that.

In March 2013, we had a six per cent increase imposed upon us for extra maintenance. Over the years, these compounding interest rates are really starting to add up. Given time, they will exceed our Canada pensions. Come spring of 2015, the increase will exceed 25 per cent of our pension income.

These increases appear to be a form of legalized extortion as opposed to a flat rate of perhaps $7 annually, which makes more sense. As it stands at present, these compounding increases are detrimental to our lifestyle, as they are eating away at our fixed income, leaving us to live in poverty, which is detrimental to the local economy.

This poses a liability situation as this unconstitutional practice has been overlooked and condoned by the past governments, opposition parties and the other intelligent bodies at the tenancy branch for over a decade now.

The big question is: Being our MLA, what are you going to do about it? Or do you require my input on that also?

Michael Bunn

Creston