BC Rent Increase Pandemic Freeze: When It Ended and What Applies Now

The Freeze Is Over — Has Been Since 2022

British Columbia imposed a provincial rent freeze during the COVID-19 pandemic. From March 2020 through December 2021, landlords could not increase rent at all — the maximum allowable increase was set at 0.0 percent for 2021, and increases were effectively suspended throughout much of 2020 as well. The freeze lifted on January 1, 2022, when the cap returned at 1.5 percent.

Despite ending more than four years ago, the freeze still generates confusion. Landlords who held off on increases during the freeze sometimes believe they can bank those missed years and apply them now. Tenants who moved in during the freeze period may not realize their landlord has been entitled to annual increases since 2022.

Both assumptions are wrong, and the consequences of acting on either one are real.

You Cannot Bank a Missed Increase

This is the single most important rule landlords misunderstand about the post-freeze period. Under the Residential Tenancy Act, if you do not apply the allowable rent increase in a given year, that percentage is permanently forfeited. You cannot carry it forward, stack it onto a future year's cap, or apply it retroactively.

If you skipped your increase in 2022 (1.5 percent cap), 2023 (2.0 percent), and 2024 (3.5 percent), you lost all three. Your 2026 increase is capped at 2.3 percent of whatever the current rent is — not 2.3 percent plus the accumulated percentages from prior years.

The practical impact on landlords who froze rent voluntarily during the pandemic and then continued to delay is significant. A landlord charging $2,000 in 2020 who applied every annual cap since 2022 would be charging approximately $2,260 in 2026. A landlord who delayed until 2026 is still at $2,000 and can only move to $2,046 — a difference of $214 per month that compounds every year going forward.

The Post-Freeze Cap History

Here is what replaced the freeze, year by year:

Since 2019, BC has used a straight CPI formula — the 12-month average BC Consumer Price Index determines the cap. The old "CPI plus 2 percent" formula that existed before 2019 is permanently gone. In 2023 and 2024, the province imposed a policy ceiling below the actual CPI because inflation spiked well above what the cap formula would have allowed. By 2025, inflation had settled enough that the pure CPI figure became the cap again.

What the Freeze Did Not Change

The freeze suspended the ability to increase rent. It did not suspend any other part of the Residential Tenancy Act. Specifically:

The 12-month rule still applies. Once you resume increasing rent, you can only do it once every 12 months from the date of the last lawful increase (or the date rent was established if no increase has ever been applied).

The notice form and timeline are unchanged. You still need Form RTB-7, served with at least three full rental months' notice, using a recognized delivery method with deemed receipt timelines under Section 90 of the RTA.

Tenancy continuity is intact. The freeze did not create a break in tenancy. If a tenant has been in your unit since 2019, it is one continuous tenancy — you cannot treat the post-freeze period as a "new" agreement to reset rent to market rates.

First Increase After a Long Gap

If you have not increased rent since before the freeze and are doing it for the first time now, the process is exactly the same as any other annual increase. The only nuance is the 12-month clock: if you have never applied an increase, the clock runs from the date rent was first established in the original tenancy agreement. As long as 12 months have passed since that date (which it almost certainly has if the tenancy predates 2020), you are clear to proceed.

Calculate the increase using the current year's cap — 2.3 percent if the effective date falls in 2026, 2.2 percent if it falls in 2027. Use the tenant's current actual rent as the base, not what the rent "should have been" if you had applied every cap since the freeze ended.

Serve Form RTB-7, give three full rental months' notice, and keep proof of service.

Next Steps

The Rent Increases in British Columbia guide includes the full post-freeze timeline, a calculation worksheet, and a notice-to-effective-date calendar so you can pick your target date and work backward to the latest service date for each delivery method.

See more British Columbia guides →