Press Hits

Toronto city staff unveiled a draft renovictions bylaw to protect tenants from unlawful evictions on Wednesday, set to be considered by city council in November. According to the draft bylaw, Toronto landlords will be required to apply for a rental renovation licence with the city within seven days of issuing an N13 notice, which is provided by the province, to end tenancy. The licence will cost $700 per unit.

London City Council unanimously passed a bylaw aimed at protecting tenants from unfair renovictions, but some advocates say the measures are not enough. Before council’s vote on Sept. 24, around 30 ACORN protesters held a “camp-out” outside city hall. Earlier this year, the City of Hamilton enacted an anti-renoviction bylaw after pressure from ACORN Hamilton. According to London city councillors and city staff, Hamilton’s bylaw inspired London’s proposed restrictions.

Evicted from her apartment, Carol Rogers is glad to have found a new place to live, but fears other tenants who stayed past the eviction date in the building she used to live in could face homelessness. For the London chapter of ACORN Canada, an organization that advocates for tenants, what’s happening to tenants at 435 Nelson St. is a case of “demovictions,” evictions for the purpose of demolishing a building to make more profit from a property.

The residents of 99 Kennedy Road and 51 McMurchy Avenue in Brampton are concerned about their unsafe living conditions while their calls to landlords go ignored. They want answers about the poorly maintained buildings and sometimes unbearable living conditions.

Après avoir reçu un avis de rénoviction en août dernier, Nelda Giroux a participé samedi à une marche dans le quartier Vanier pour dénoncer ce phénomène qui frappe Ottawa de plein fouet. Le phénomène est devenu un véritable fléau à Ottawa, selon le président de la section centrale régionale d’ACORN, Edward Roué.

A new report released by ACORN Ontario says it has connected a landlord with multiple buildings in the province, including here in Waterloo Region, as the “biggest renovictor” in the province. The report alleged that a landlord by the name of Michael Klein is responsible for issuing hundreds of renoviction notices to at least 21 buildings across multiple cities, including Kitchener, Cambridge, London, and Toronto. A renoviction is when a landlord evicts a tenant by saying they need to make major renovations.