Oak Bay has been considering legalisation of secondary suites for most of this year already and they have recently sent out a form asking for opinion on secondary suites as part of the tax notice. But us poor renters don’t own the property and thus don’t receive the tax notices (although we do pay the property tax, just via our rent).
Fear not, as the municipality has taken us into consideration. As Councillor Nils Jensen points out, 25% of Oak Bay residents are renters, so our opinion is important. You can pick up a form during business hours from the municipal hall at 2167 Oak Bay Ave. The deadline for it to be returned in July 10th, although this might get extended, depending on responses. You will need to show proof of residency to get a form.
The next meeting of the secondary suites committee is currently TBA, but I will announce it here when that date does get decided.
Whether or not Oak Bay approves legal suites makes not one iota of difference. There will always be suites and just because they may become legal does anyone really think that homeowners who now have suites will go running to city hall to tell them. No! Why bother? It will mean your taxes will go up, your assessment will also rise and you will have to pay income tax on your rental income. And will it conform?
I am against suites and I do not like the sob story that it allows more people to buy in Oak Bay because they will have a mortgage helper. Sure I would love to have waterfront property in the Uplands but do you think if I put in two suites it will happen? Hardly. We worked hard to get into this community and many of us were lucky to achieve this.
In the area where I live there are houses with suites. Some have more than one. They also have student boarders. They also have a half dozen cars parked in and around the house not to mention the piles of garbage they put out bi-weekly.
A neighbour had a suite and the most popular entrance was through a window off my driveway. It was rented to college students. Having drunk people staggering up your driveway at two in the morning trying to get into that window is fun, believe me! Did I pay my dues to have to put up with that?
Or how about that car that has been parked in front of your house for a month? Call the police department and they will say it is licensed in Kelona. Why is it here? Well you then find out it belongs to a boarder.
Unfortunately, there are some renters that aren’t good neighbours. But the reality is that there are lots of renters in Oak Bay who are essentially invisible. The other reality is that we are facing a housing crisis in Victoria. There is almost no new rental housing being built and we are losing stock to condo conversions.