"Tenants Catch Break With Lowest Hike Ever": January 2011
The Tillsonburg News:
Tenants catch break with lowest hike ever
By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, QMI Agency
Ontario renters will catch an election-year break, with the lowest allowable rent hike in the 35-year history of rent control.
Rents will be allowed to rise by only 0.7% in 2011, the maximum without special approval from the Landlord and Tenant Board.
The tiny increase left one industry observer saying the Liberal government is currying favour with tenants in an election year.
"It's political opportunism," said Stuart Henderson, a moderator with the Ontario Landlords Association. " We feel the McGuinty government is trying to protect against a backlash from tenants in Toronto."
But landlords weren't protesting when the shoe was on the other foot. That was when the province allowed yearly increases in the range of 5% in the 1990s, said Geordie Dent, executive director of the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations.
The recession has been very hard on many tenants and unemployment in Toronto, the largest rental market, still hovers at about 10%, he said.
" It's not renting out a movie at Blockbusters - it's people's housing," he said. " Any increase right now during this difficult time is hard for any tenant."
Liberal cabinet minister Jim Bradley stood by the modest allowable increase.
" The McGuinty government is providing real protection for tenants by linking the rent increase guideline to the Ontario Consumer Price Index which prevents routine rent increases above the rate of inflation while ensuring landlords can recover increases in their costs," he said.
Henderson, whose association typically represents property owners with less than five rental units, said the tiny increase has many of the group's members wondering if they can afford to stay in the business.
" We're the ones paying all these new costs - the price of gas, hydro, the HST - and then we kind of get kicked in the stomach with a 0.7% increase," he said. " It leaves the worst landlords in the market, people who are renting out firetraps, illegal places."
Ontario Ombudsman's Office Calls for Improvements in Toronto's Property Standards Department: Nov. 2010
A recent report from the Ontario Ombudsman’s Office proposes positive changes to how MLS (Property Standards) complaints are dealt with. Read on to find out more about how this may impact all Toronto tenants.
The following is a short summary of the November 2010 Ombudsman's report entitled: “A DUTY TO CARE: An Investigation into Municipal Licensing and Standards’ Treatment of a Resident with Dementia”.
Summary:A complaint was filed after MLS fined a woman with dementia over $4000 for cutting down a tree in her yard. The Ombudsmans’ office found that MLS is discriminating against people with dementia or 'diminished capacity' and must develop accommodation policies. They found MLS negligent in communicating poorly with residents and failing to respond to complaints about its staff.
Relevant Recommendations:
1) MLS needs to consult with mental health services and advocates to develop policy on accommodating residents with dementia or‚ 'diminished capacity’. Policy must be developed by March 2011 and implemented by April 2011
2) When dealing with some one who is not responsible for their own affairs(eg. has a trustee), they must make reasonable efforts to communicate with whoever is responsible for the person's affairs.
3) MLS must develop an “Escalation Protocol” and follow its existing Complaint Compliance Protocol
4) MLS must make sure notices are thorough and clear and develop a standard of service wherein residents get “clear, prompt, and complete answers”
City Response:
- Accepted all recommendations
- Say they have developed a “Multi-Jurisdictional Enforcement Team” to deal with providing services to vulnerable adults
"Rent cut coming for thousands of T.O. tenants": TORONTO SUN, Dec. 10, 2010
FMTA's Executive Director talks to the Toronto Sun about Automatic Rent Reductions.
"Rent cut coming for 1000s of T.O. tenants": TORONTO SUN, Dec. 10, '10
by: ANTONELLA ARTUSO
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About 130,000 Toronto tenants will shortly get notices of an automatic reduction in their rent.
Geordie Dent, executive director of the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations, told torontosun.com that the City of Toronto is currently mailing out the notices to renters.
Last year, more than 128,500 tenants in Toronto were advised that they were eligible for a rent cut under provincial law.
Dent said many tenants have complained of being bullied by landlords who don’t want to give them the reduction.
“It’s been a nightmare ... landlords have been fighting these notices tooth and nail,” Dent said Friday. “Even though the tenant didn’t really have anything to do with this.”
Provincial rent legislation requires that tenants get a break on their rent if the property tax on their buildings has been lowered.
“When a landlord taxes goes down, because essentially tenants’ rent pays for everything... including their taxes, the tenants taxes have to go down as well,” Dent said.
According to a City of Toronto news release, the rent decreases amounted to $144 a year on a $1,200 monthly rent in a building where property taxes dropped 5%.
“Tenants of buildings with more than six units generally pay about 20% of their rent toward property taxes, so if taxes go down, they are entitled to reduce their rent by 20% of the reduction,” a 2009 city news release says.
“For buildings with six or fewer units, the percentage is 15.”
Add Your Name to the FMTA Agent List!!!
Are you a licensed paralegal or lawyer? Interested in helping tenants fight Above Guideline Increases at the Landlord and Tenant Board?
The FMTA's Outreach and Organizing team is looking to your add name to our Agent List!
The FMTA Outreach and Organizing team helps organize tenants in Toronto to fight Above Guideline Increase applications and access grants through the Tenant Defense Fund. Tenant Defense Fund grants allow tenants to hire agents to represent them at the Landlord and Tenant Board.
In order to help tenants find a lawyer or paralegal willing to represent them the FMTA gives tenants easy-to-find options through our Agent list. Tenants are still able to hire any other lawyer or paralegal is the wish.
To be added to the List, please provide the FMTA with:
- A filled out Agent list application
- a CV and cover letter outlining your interest in working with tenants
- two references (work and/or character)
- signed Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations Anti-Oppression/Anti-Racism Policy and Conflict of Interest Guidelines forms
Please send the above information to the FMTA via mail to:
FMTA - 27 Carlton St. Ste. 500, Toronto, ON, M5B 1L2
or e-mail at:
The forms are attached below.
Landlord-aid company boss, exposed by FMTA, guilty on 11 charges
Last year the FMTA was instrumental in exposing Jennifer Rose Smith, head of Toronto-based Landlord Source Centre, for breaching the privacy of over 1400 tenants on-line. Ms. Smith had contacted several tenants who complained of her behaviour to the FMTA Tenant Hotline. The hotline exposed her list to the Toronto Star and the list was eventually shut down.
The Federal Privacy Commissioner ruled that the Landlord Soruce Centre had violated the privacy of many tenants.
Now, according to the Toronto Star, Ms. Smith has been been "convicted of falsely presenting herself as a lawyer."
According to the Star:
"Jennifer Rose Smith, head of the Landlord's Source Centre, was found guilty of 11 charges, including providing legal services when not authorized, representing herself as a lawyer and presenting herself as someone who could provide legal services.
"Five individuals testified against Smith this week, including two lawyers who worked for her and three former clients dating back to 2008 or earlier.Smith identified herself as a lawyer and litigation manager, the court was told. Witnesses also testified that her company made unauthorized charges on clients' credit cards, mishandled cases and lost or failed to return original documents to clients.
"Smith, who did not attend the hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice at 70 Centre Ave., was charged following six complaints to the Law Society of Upper Canada.
"Smith was ordered to pay $88,000, or $8,000 for each count, and given two years' probation with the condition she not present herself as someone who can provide legal services."
FMTA Helps Tenant Get Building Audited
The FMTA has recently helped a tenant get maintenance done on their building through the help of Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre (PARC) and the City's Municipal Licensing and Standards Municipal Residential Audit Building (MRAB) Program.
A tenant came in complaining of extremely bad maintenance at their building and showed a video of the building captured on Youtube. The video can be watched here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5mGAPt6WA8
The FMTA recommended the tenant ask the MRAB program to audit the building for maintenance issues. The tenant, with the help of staff members from PARC, appealed to the program to audit the building and on May 28th, 2010, the building was audited by the MRAB team.
The City's Municipal Licensing and Standards division issued four work orders to the building having found 27 deficiencies in the common areas.
While 10 of the deficiencies have been closed, 17 remain outstanding as of October 22, 2010.
Information about the MRAB program and a list of buildings being audited can be found here.
Information on PARC can be found here.
More City Councillor Housing Survey Results
Unfortunately the FMTA did not receive all of the Municipal Election Housing Surveys by the deadline, so we were unable to include all of the candidates' responses. Attached you will find the answers and grades of candidates who sent in their surveys after our report card deadline.
October 19: Day of Action for a Federal Housing Strategy
Join a lunchtime rally in downtown Toronto to support Bill C-304, which is set to go before Parliament for a final vote by the end of October. Bill C-304 is an Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians. The rally will take place in front of the Ministry of Housing at 777 Bay Street (at College), from 12 to 1 pm on Tuesday October 19. For more information about the rally and the campaign, click here.
Toronto Vital Signs 2010: Report includes stats on housing affordability
The Toronto Community Foundation has unveiled their Toronto Vital Signs 2010 Report, summarizing statistics in 11 related areas that reflect Toronto's overall quality of life and challenges that need to be addressed. See the report here.
Private Member's Bill addressing bed bugs, landlord licensing, and other tenant protection
MPP Cheri DiNovo has tabled a private member's bill that proposes a landlord licensing scheme, including the provision that landlords be denied licenses if their apartments have bed bugs. Read the story here.