Apr 9, 2020
Rent Distress Act needs a COVID-19 update, BC Court explains why only urgent cases, and releasing people from jail
The Rent Distress Act governs the seizure of property by commercial landlords for the non-payment of rent. Its provisions are utilized in cases, including a recent court decision concerning the seizure and sale of a pizza oven, by a landlord in Tofino.
Unfortunately, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the act is hopelessly out of date. It only permits a tenant to keep $200 worth of property relating to their trade and sets out an archaic list of other property that a tenant is allowed to keep. The list includes one cooking stove with pipe, one lamp, one washboard, two pails, one table, one clock, one broom, one shovel, three smoothing irons, and one chair, knife, spoon, fork and plate for each member of the debtor’s family.
A smoothing iron is a predecessor to the modern iron that you would heat up on your stove, to press your “ordinary wearing apparel” which a landlord would also be required to leave a tenant with. Why a tenant would be allowed three smoothing irons, but…