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Brett Kraynyk’s lease is coming up for a renewal, and while the Winnipeg property where he lives is rent-controlled, he’s worried about a significant increase if his landlord reduces his rent discount — which happened last year.
“I’m a little bit on edge about what’s going to happen. Is my rent going to be a 1.8 per cent increase, as per the mandate? Or are they going to drop from the discount to make it 10 [or] 15 per cent? I really don’t know,” Kraynyk told CBC News.
Under Manitoba regulations, rental units are protected by increase guidelines set by the province and based on the consumer price index. Currently, the maximum annual increase is 1.8 per cent.
However, some units, including those that rent for more than $1,670 per month, are not protected. Landlords can also apply for approval for an above-guideline rent increase if the guideline amount won’t cover their costs for the unit that year.
As well, landlords may offer tenants a discount on rent, but that discount can be altered at a landlord’s discretion, as long as they comply with provincial regulations. Changes to those discounts can sometimes turn into hefty monthly increases, even in rent-controlled properties like Kraynyk’s.
“It’s hard for me to prepare for other things in life knowing that this potential large looming expense is going to be lingering over my head,” he said.
Kraynyk signed a lease that included a discount when he moved into his North Kildonan two-bedroom apartment six years ago.
Because his apartment is rent-controlled, his landlord can only raise his base rent by the annual guideline amount.
In 2024, Kraynyk paid $1,104 a month — base rent of $1,400, with a $296 discount.
But in 2025, the amount he paid rose to $1,200 — an increase of about 8.7 per cent — after his property manager raised the base rent to $1,424 and cut his discount to $224. The provincial guideline for rent increases in 2025 was set at 1.7 per cent.
“I’m fortunate enough that I can pay my bills, keep up my place and absorb a little bit of a hit. But a lot of other people couldn’t,” said Kraynyk.
His lease is up in the spring, and he’s worried about a possible change to his discount. If it was entirely removed, he would be facing an increase of over 18 per cent.
“I could survive it, but it would force me to move,” he said.
Landlord, tenant power imbalance: advocate
Jace Kettner, an advocate with the Tenant Landlord Cooperation Program at the North End Community Renewal Corporation, says rent discounts are often removed or slashed over time.
“The result is very significantly sized rent increases, and tenants really have no recourse in these situations. It’s either decide to pay or pack up and move,” he said.
Because they can be taken away, discounts create a power imbalance between landlords and tenants, said Kettner.
Renters may be hesitant to ask for needed repairs or even talk about changes in their tenancy, out of fear that might influence the discount.
“They generally want to avoid conflict,” he said.
Rent discounts apply for a lease’s full term, unless a time limit or other conditions are set. If a landlord wants to reduce or remove the discount, they must give notice at least three months in advance.
A landlord also doesn’t need to offer the discount for any month where there was a breach of a condition tied to it, such as paying rent on time.
Jumps in rent, even in rent-controlled properties, when a discount is removed or changed are “a very, very common issue,” said Kettner.
“It’s certainly a way for landlords to go around those rent controls,” he said. “It definitely minimizes the impact that rent regulations have in Manitoba.”
The Residential Tenancies Branch can get involved, but renters generally accept discount changes in order to keep their home, said Kettner.
‘You’re trying to catch up’
Avrom Charach, a spokesperson for Manitoba’s Professional Property Managers Association, said when given the opportunity to change a rent discount, landlords tend to reduce instead of scrapping it altogether.
Discounts are rarely changed drastically, he said, and if they are, it’s often tied to bringing the rent on par with similar units.
But even if a discount is reduced, an increase to a tenant’s base rent is still limited by the provincial regulations, Charach said.
“To say this is a loophole to charge more than the government is allowing is incorrect,” he said.
He also notes that sometimes, rent discounts have been in place for years.
Changing a discount is one way to stabilize income for landlords who are dealing with increasing utility rates, staff salaries and other fees, said Charach.
“If you’re removing your discount, you’re trying to catch up,” he said.
“We are under extreme pressure, the same pressure that the tenants are under.”
‘Gaming the system’
The conditions around discounts have to be spelled out in a rental contract, Charach said.
But there are no regulations around clarifying whether the base price listed for a unit online comes with a discount or not. Charach said each landlord decides when to tell the potential tenant about the discount.
“Transparency is not a bad thing, [but] do we need a regulation for it? I’m not 100 per cent sure,” Charach.
He would like property owners to be allowed to increase rents above the provincial guideline for new tenants moving into a property, in order to help cover renovation costs between tenants. That would reduce reliance on changing discounts, he said.
But Yutaka Dirks, with the advocacy group Right to Housing Coalition, said that could become an incentive to evict an existing tenant, if a new tenant would pay more.
Under the current system, landlords can apply for an above-guideline rent increase, but they might struggle to find a tenant willing to pay the new value, said Dirks.
But a property owner may be able to attract a renter by offering a discount, only to later remove it to get the full rent amount they initially wanted, he said.
“It is a way of gaming the system,” said Dirks. “That sort of goes against the whole principle of rent regulation, which is to stabilize the rents and … prevent rent gouging.”
Asked about rent discounts, Public Service Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu said in a statement his government has introduced “the largest expansion to rent control in decades.”
Last week, the NDP tabled a number of changes to expand rent control protections.
But the proposed changes don’t address rent discounts directly, the Right to Housing Coalition says.
While Kraynyk said he can absorb the hit from a change to his rent discount, others on a fixed income might not be able to.
The province needs to change the system so rent reductions are not used as a “back door” to increase rents, said Karynyk.
“The environment was created to allow these type of unethical behaviours to propagate,” he said.
Manitoba’s government plans to expand protections for renters, but some say little is being done to address regulations around rent discounts. Advocates argue landlords have wide discretion to change rent discounts, which can lead to hefty increases, even in rent-controlled properties.
