---
title: "BC Greens promise commercial rent controls and first-purchase rights for small businesses"
description: "The BC Greens published a small business plan on October 18, pledging province-wide commercial rent and vacancy controls, a vacant property tax, and first-purchase rights for tenants when a commercial property is sold."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/bc/provincial-2026/news/bc-greens-commercial-rent-controls-lowan-october-2026"
last_updated: "2026-10-20T00:00:12.536Z"
---

The BC Greens published a small business plan on October 18 pledging to bring in province-wide commercial rent and vacancy controls across British Columbia. Emily Lowan, the party's leader and candidate for Saanich North and the Islands, announced the plan in Victoria.

The party's announcement says more businesses closed than opened in BC for five consecutive quarters and that BC recorded a net loss of 1,300 businesses in a single quarter in the previous year. These are the BC Greens' own figures and voche.me has not verified them against an independent source.

"Small businesses are at the heart of our communities," Lowan said in the announcement.

The plan has three parts. The commercial rent and vacancy controls would be province-wide and would limit rent increases during a tenancy, at lease renewal, and when a property changes tenants. The party says this would prevent the cost of tenancy from resetting upward each time a space turns over.

The second part would give municipalities the power to tax vacant commercial storefronts and properties. The announcement does not name a tax rate or a dollar amount. The stated purpose is to reduce the number of empty commercial spaces on main streets.

The third part would give commercial tenants, municipalities, First Nations, cooperatives, and community organizations the right to buy a qualifying commercial property before it is sold to another buyer when the owner decides to sell. The BC Greens say they would back this with provincial financing and loan guarantees. The announcement does not define which properties would qualify or how disputes would be handled.

The announcement cites two local figures as examples of the broader trend. Downtown Victoria retail rents rose 13 per cent in one year, according to the party's announcement. Available retail space in Sidney rose 30 per cent in a single quarter in the current year. Both figures are the party's own and voche.me has not checked them against an independent source.

No specific dollar costs appear in the announcement. No response from the BC Conservatives or the BC NDP to this plan had been reported by a news outlet at the time this article was written.

Voting day is October 24, 2026. Advance voting continues through October 21. You can read Emily Lowan's profile at [/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/emily-lowan](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/emily-lowan) and compare party platforms at [/bc/provincial-2026/parties/bc-green-party](/bc/provincial-2026/parties/bc-green-party).

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