SURREY, B.C. - If you rent in Surrey, the province has already decided the biggest increase your landlord can give you next year, and the year after. The maximum allowable rent increase for 2026 is 2.3 per cent, and the province has also published the 2027 limit: 2.2 per cent. On a $2,000 monthly rent, those caps mean at most $46 more a month in 2026, and a further $45 or so in 2027, not whatever the market would bear.
The three rules that protect you
First, the cap is a cap: the limit applies even if utilities or fees are included in your rent, and even if your landlord’s costs have gone up by more. A notice asking for more than the year’s maximum is not valid up to the extra amount, no matter what reason it gives. Second, timing: rent can only be increased once every 12 months. Third, notice: the landlord must give you at least three full months’ notice of a rent increase, using the prescribed Notice of Rent Increase form, RTB-7. A text message, a note under the door or a verbal heads-up does not start the clock.
What a proper notice looks like
Check any increase notice against four things: is it on the RTB-7 form, is the new amount within the year’s percentage limit, has at least 12 months passed since your last increase (or since your tenancy began), and does it give you three full months before the higher rent starts? If any answer is no, the increase does not take effect as written, and the Residential Tenancy Branch is the authority to confirm your specific situation.
What it means for you
Budget with the real numbers: if your rent has not gone up in the past year, plan for up to 2.3 per cent in 2026 and 2.2 per cent in 2027, and keep every notice you receive. If a notice arrives that breaks any of the three rules, do not just pay it and do not just refuse; the Branch’s dispute process exists for exactly this, and paperwork beats memory in a dispute. Landlords reading this get the same clarity: the limits are published well ahead, and a clean RTB-7 inside the cap is an increase nobody can unwind.
(Source: Government of British Columbia, Residential Tenancy Branch, rent increases, accessed November 7, 2026)
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