Archives 2004

All of our letters and news releases for 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TENANTS DON’T WANT APPRECIATION – WE WANT A BETTER LAW

Rose Sinclair is a senior citizen living in a west end high rise.  She also heads up the Tenant Association for the 663 unit complex.   They have a meeting coming up Tuesday night, September 27, and they were hoping to be hearing about a new better law for tenants.

This week she got a call from her MPP, Gerard Kennedy that he would be unable to attend.  She was also told that Mr. Kennedy was going to be having a Volunteer Appreciation Night and wanted to recognize her for her efforts.

“I don’t want an appreciation night”, Rose responded, “I want you to bring in a better law for tenants”.  “Keep your promises to tenants!  “I believe that Mr. Kennedy does care about tenants and we have a good relationship, but he is part of an Ontario Government that needs to act for tenants now.”

Rents have continued to increase in Toronto.  Tenants in Rose’s buildings have lost their visitor parking.  They are also at risk of higher housing costs because the landlord intends to make the tenants pay directly for hydro. 

Like many other tenants and voters, Rose believed that the new Government would repeal the much despised “Tenant Protection Act”.  She saw the letter Dalton McGuinty sent to the Federation in August of 2003, and she listened to what Mr. Kennedy said during the campaign.  She was heartened when David Caplan said it would happen within one year of taking office.

Like so many of us, Rose was patient that the reform would happen in 2005.  Now there is serious doubt that new legislation will be in the throne speech expected for October 11. Although, many like Gerard Kennedy appear to be fighting for reform for tenants, the Government as a whole has stalled.

 In 2004, tenants from across Toronto made their view known very strongly.  At the Federation of Metro Tenants, we have been knocking on the doors of local politicians, just asking for a fair law to be passed, as promised. This year, we have worked with thousands of tenants who have been adversely affected by the continuing law.  Tenants are no longer blaming the former Government – because the current Government can fix it now.

 Further Government inaction on their promises could be a very bitter pill to swallow.  We are encouraging all tenants to join with us in demanding that the Government simply keep its promise.

Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations

Response to the Ontario Human Rights Commission Discussion paper on Human Rights and Family in Ontario

July 22nd, 2005

The Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations (FMTA) is a non-profit Organization which advocates for better rights for Tenants.

Founded in 1974, we are the oldest and largest Tenant Federation in Canada.  The FMTA is comprised of affiliated Tenant Associations and Individual Members.

The FMTA manages two major projects, both funded by the City of Toronto.

The Tenant Hotline is a free telephone counseling service operated by the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations. Our Hotline counselors offer information about legal rights to any tenant who calls. Hotline Counselors also provide tenants with meaningful referrals, if necessary, to community or City agencies, resources or legal clinics. We can also, upon request, mail or fax information relevant to the situation.

The Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations also carries out Outreach and Organizing related to the Tenant Defence Fund. The City of Toronto created the Tenant Defence Fund to assist tenants who are disputing Above Guideline Increase (AGI) applications. The fund has two main parts: a Tenant Support Grant to provide financial assistance to tenant groups, and an Outreach and Organizing Team. The Outreach and Organizing Team provides assistance and support to tenants throughout the entire process of challenging an AGI, repairs and maintenance applications, starting a tenants’ association, or learning about and asserting their rights as tenants.

Inadequate housing policies in Ontario have led to inadequate housing, and this may be a source of tension for tenants with children. At the FMTA, we believe that housing is a right, and ought to be considered by the Commission as fundamental.

Because the majority of our funding comes from the City of Toronto, we focus our services to those tenants who live in within the GTA. Therefore, our response to the Ontario Human Rights Commission Discussion paper on Human Rights and Family in Ontario is limited by geographical location and specific to tenants.

Q. What should the commission’s policy be on issues related to noise?

The issue of children’s noise comes up often on the Tenant Hotline, from both tenants with children, and those complaining about the noise of children. Hotline Counselors’ response is that “kids have a right to run.” In other words, in multi-residential situations, noise is bound to happen, and it is usually a part of tenant life.

We encourage families with children to try to find solutions to the situation with their landlords and neighbours to find certain noise reduction measures such as soundproofing, carpeting or relocation in the building. While the FMTA recognizes that noise can interfere with the reasonable enjoyment of tenants in a multi-residential situation, we are careful not to participate in tenant against tenant complaints. Part of our mandate is to prevent evictions, and we will absolutely not counsel a tenant to have another tenant evicted. It is our position that evictions should absolutely not be a method of controlling noise.

Q. Are there other ways in which discrimination against families with children is manifested in the housing market?

Families with older children – that is, teenagers – may find negative attitudes or stereotypes directed towards their children, especially children of colour, who are often seen as criminal, trouble-makers, etc. Landlords often make rules about loitering, or noise, to keep youth out of common areas of buildings.

While, on the one hand, noise and certain behaviour of youth may interfere with reasonable enjoyment of tenants in the building, on the other hand, young people are also tenants in the building, and have the right to the use of the common areas for common purposes.

One tenant we spoke to articulated her pleasure at discovering that the youth who hung out outside her building actually provided a security benefit – unwelcome strangers stayed away from what they perceived to be rowdy youth, and tenants who lived in the area were welcomed home with hellos.

At the FMTA, we encourage tenants to work together to find solutions to the issues that they face. Getting to know your neighbours is the best kind of security, and the best protection against unfair landlords. It is important to give youth the opportunity to feel included in the community that they reside in. The more young people feel that they are part of the community, the less threatened everyone feels.

Q. What types of accommodations for family status are appropriate in the housing context?

Children’s safety is an issue that sometimes comes up on the Tenant Hotline. Where ever possible, it may be a good idea for Landlords to offer tenants with young children accommodation as close to the ground floor as possible. That being said, the lack of ground floor apartments should not be cause to refuse to rent to a family with young children. We merely want to suggest reasonable actions that individual landlords and tenants can take to accommodate specific needs of tenants. It is landlord’s responsibility to accommodate differences between people in their living situations, and this includes the needs of families, concerning safety and reasonable enjoyment.

Q. How can the commission assist landlords in understanding and complying with their obligations under the Code?

Landlords in Ontario are unregulated and unlicensed. All one needs in order to become a landlord is some form of property investment. This kind of unregulated money-making means that landlords do not necessarily have to know that laws which they must adhere to, and the expectation is that landlords will act according to law because they are supposed to – even if acting according to the law interferes with a landlord’s ability to make money.

It is clear that landlords ought to be monitored in some way by a government body to protect tenants and ensure that the law is adhered to.

Failing that, at minimum an education campaign should be launched to ensure that landlords at least understand their obligations under the law. We encourage the Commission to launch such a campaign and produce clear, plain language education materials for both tenants and landlords about their rights and responsibilities under the code. It is important that tenants understand their rights under the law, so that they can enforce them.

Another helpful forum for educating tenants and landlords (one which we are certainly familiar with!) is an information hotline for both tenants and landlords. We encourage the Commission to fund a hotline for landlords and tenants to answer any questions about their rights and obligations under the law.

For Immediate Release – September 2, 2004

Tenants Could Lose Millions of Dollars in Interest Payments

From the days of Bill Davis right through to Ernie Eves, tenants have been entitled to an interest payment of 6% from landlords on deposits held for the "last month’s rent".

Now Dalton McGuinty may cut that payment in half. The Liberal Government placed that possibility within their lengthy consultation paper on rent reform. The Government expects to bring in new legislation in October.

A typical Toronto tenant would lose $30 per year on a rent of $1000 per month. There are approximately 600,000 rental units in the GTA and more than double that in Ontario.

Landlords have the right to collect a last month’s rent deposit from a tenant, which gives landlords a protection against those few tenants who do not pay the rent. The deposit can be increased when the rent is increased. The 6% interest rate has been in place since 1970.

This year, landlords complained that banks do not pay that much interest on savings and the Government placed the issue into its consultation process for developing a new law. Interest rates on other loans are above 6%.

"After years of receiving unfair rent increases, it is galling that landlords want to renege on the 6%." said Dan McIntyre, Outreach Program Co-Ordinator for the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations. "It is even more galling that the Government could agree. If landlords do not want to pay the interest, they can give the deposits back to the rent paying tenants."

"The issue for us is that our members and callers tell us they do not receive the interest from their landlord. Instead of dealing with possible abuse of the law, the Government may cut the interest!" said Vivienne Loponen, Chair of the FMTA.

In a letter to the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations dated August 12, 2003, Dalton McGuinty wrote, "The bottom line: Real protection for tenants at all times." This is the commitment the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations expects this Government to honour.

August 19, 2004

Tax Policies
Corporate Finance
Toronto City Hall

Re: Review of Property Tax Ratios

The Federation of Metro Tenants Associations takes this opportunity to place our position on the record with respect to multi-residential tax ratios.

In the City of Toronto, tenants pay property tax at a rate 3.8 times higher than homeowners, including condominium owners. This cost is completely passed on to tenants and adds more than $100 to the monthly rents paid by tenants in Toronto.

Condominiums and co-operatives do not pay this rate.

The effect of the 3.8 ratio is that a tenant living in an apartment with an appraised value of $75,000 is paying much more tax than a condominium owner with an appraised value of $150,000, and more tax than a homeowner in a $260,000 house. On average in Ontario, tenants pay 2.7 times greater than homeowners. In Ottawa, the ratio is approximately 2.0.

The rent law in Ontario requires tax reductions to be passed on to tenants. The current Government has promised to end vacancy decontrol, which should mean that tax savings are permanently beneficial to tenants.

Further, the Ontario Government has taken some positions on this matter that indicates a preference to end the status quo. Municipalities cannot charge the multi-residential rate to new rental buildings and they cannot allow the ratio to increase. In 1997, the Government of Ontario recommended a "range of fairness" that would see the ratio be no higher than 1.1 by the year 2006.

The Fair Tax Commission recommended in 1994 that tenants should pay at the same rate as homeowners.

This year, the City of Ottawa added an extra 1% increase to homeowner taxes, while reducing multi-residential by 1%. This was seen as a step in moving towards equality and this step received the editorial endorsement of the Ottawa Citizen newspaper.

The FMTA recognizes that achieving an equitable tax position for tenants to homeowners will require a shift of taxation. At the end of the day, the City will require the same amount of revenue to provide services to all citizens.

Just to get our City to the average (for the Province) would be a start, but not nearly enough. The only fairness is equality. The ultimate solution may be to end municipal property tax as we know it, and shift to a municipal income tax system.

We take no position with respect to the commercial and business tax ratios. We observe that for business, property tax is deductible for income tax purposes. We also observe that lower rents will provide tenants with more disposable income to be spent in local businesses.

We are prepared to work constructively for fair change with the City. It is an issue where tenant and landlord advocates are on the same side. Although we know that in the process of change there will be opposition, we believe that all fair-minded people fundamentally agree with equality.

This inequity must be ended as soon as possible. Although, we are not unsympathetic to low income homeowners, most low income people are tenants. This adds to the regressive nature of property tax.

We urge the City of Toronto to move towards a fair and equal tax system as quickly as possible.

Sincerely,
Dan McIntyre
Program Co-Ordinator

August 13, 2004

For Immediate Release

Rent Guideline Announcement – Better But More Needed

Today the Ontario Government announced the annual rent guideline for 2005 as 1.5%. This confirms the promise made last April to end the bonus provisions contained in the annual guideline since 1987.

"Freezing the 2% per cent bonus will provide relief for tenants who are fed up with years of unfair rent increases." said Vivienne Loponen, Chair of the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations. "We applaud this action by the Liberal Government."

The Federation is calling for a permanent removal of the bonus provision in the guideline. The guideline calculation should remain the same as this one in future years. This has been the Federation’s consistent message and we trust that the McGuinty Government has been listening to tenants.

"The minimum we expect from a fair Government is an end to unjustifiable increases as promised." Stated Dan McIntyre Program Co-Ordinator of the FMTA. "That means ending the compounding bonuses for landlords who apply for more than the guideline, such as forcing tenants to pay over and over again for allowed increases for major expenditures."

McIntyre continued, "Tenants expect this Government to stand up for them. The landlord excuse of a temporary change in the vacancy rate is no reason to allow future exploitation of tenants, like we have had for the last six years."

New rent legislation is expected in the Fall session of the Legislature. The Government carried out a consultation process last Spring. Thousands of tenants made it known that they need real rent control, maintenance assurance, and a fair system to resolve problems.

Rising rents have put an unfair burden on tenants, resulting in more evictions, longer line-ups at food banks, and a staggering waiting list for rent geared to income housing. Rent is taking more than ever out of people’s incomes.

"We are counting on the Premier to keep his promise of real protection for tenants at all times." Said Ms. Loponen.

Check out the FMTA at Toronto's 2004 Pride Parade!

April 22, 2004 For Immediate Release

RENTS WILL STILL INCREASE IN ONTARIO

The release of the Government Tenancy Reform Consultation Paper has started an overdue debate on the fairest system for tenants and landlords.

Tenants have suffered under the mis-named Tenant Protection Act for six years. The announcement that the most unfair part of that act for sitting tenants will be eliminated for 2005 was welcome. The annual guideline will be reduced by 2%.

The Government also signals an end to vacancy de-control which has driven rents up hundreds of dollars. There are also strong signals that a fairer system to deal with evictions and other disputes will be implemented.

But the paper is weak on the issue of stopping Above Guideline Increases. Tenants in thousands of apartment buildings have experienced unfair and unjust and compounding rent increases based on capital expenditures or temporary jumps in utility costs (already included in the guideline).

The current system allows expenditures without regard to best business practices, historical data, neglect, and other circumstances. Once put in the rent, it stays in the rent and compounds annually. There is no provision for costs no longer borne and the paper gives that issue short shrift.

"This rent freeze is a beginning, but we have a lot of work to do with the tenants of Toronto to achieve the best possible system", stated Vivienne Loponen, Chair of the Federation of Metro Tenants' Association.

Loponen added "To their credit, the government has issued a true discussion paper. We will be encouraging all tenants to have their say."