New Brunswick Vacancy Decontrol: Setting Rent for a New Tenant

What Vacancy Decontrol Means for New Brunswick Landlords

New Brunswick's 3% rent cap limits how much you can raise rent on an existing tenant. It does not limit what you charge a new tenant when the unit turns over.

This is vacancy decontrol: when a rental unit becomes vacant upon the lawful departure of a tenant, the landlord can set the initial rent for the incoming tenant at market value. There is no cap on the asking price for a vacant unit. The statutory 3% ceiling under Section 11.12 of the Residential Tenancies Act applies strictly to rent increases during an ongoing tenancy or upon renewals with the same tenant.

How It Works in Practice

Say you have a unit renting at $1,100/month. Your current tenant gives notice and moves out. You advertise the unit at $1,400/month, and a new tenant signs the lease at that rate.

That $1,400 becomes the new baseline rent. From that point forward, the 3% cap and every other statutory protection locks in:

• For tenancies governed by Section 11.1, no increase is permitted during the first consecutive 12-month period unless the parties agree otherwise in writing; after that, no more than one increase is permitted in any other consecutive 12-month period
• Mobile home site increases follow the separate requirements in Section 25.4
• Six full calendar months' written notice for any increase
• The notice must be a separate document

The jump from $1,100 to $1,400 is lawful because it happened between tenancies, not during one.

What Does Not Count as a Vacancy

A fixed-term lease expiring and the same tenant signing a new one is not a vacancy. The tenant who renews — or stays on as month-to-month — is still the same tenant, subject to the 3% cap on the rent they were already paying.

Similarly, a property changing ownership does not reset the rent. If you buy a building with existing tenants, those tenants keep their current rent. You inherit the 12-month lockout clock and the cap applies from the last lawful increase date, not from the sale date.

An existing tenant briefly leaving and returning under a new lease to circumvent the cap is also not a genuine vacancy. Residential Tenancies Officers can look through arrangements designed to evade statutory protections.

Bidding Wars and Prohibited Charges

While you can set the rent at market value for a new tenancy, Section 8(4) of the Residential Tenancies Act bars requiring an amount other than rent, a security deposit, or a reasonable amount for a service provided in relation to the tenancy. You can advertise at market rent, but you cannot auction the unit to the highest bidder by collecting upfront payments beyond those allowed categories.

The security deposit for the new tenancy cannot exceed one week's rent for a week-to-week tenancy, one month's rent for other standard premises, or three months for mobile home sites. It must be remitted to the provincial Security Deposit Fund within 15 days.

Why This Matters for Your Rent Increase Strategy

Vacancy decontrol means your biggest rent adjustment happens at turnover, not during the tenancy. While a long-term tenant's rent creeps up at 3% per year, the unit resets to market on turnover.

This shapes how you approach rent increases with existing tenants. A $45/month increase on a $1,500 unit (3%) keeps a good tenant in place and avoids vacancy costs — turnover advertising, cleaning, lost rent during the empty period. The math on pushing a reliable tenant out to reset rent rarely works in favour of the landlord.

For the complete process of raising rent on an existing tenant — from eligibility check through notice service — the Rent Increases in New Brunswick guide covers every step.

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