On Friday, the Government of Ontario announced the 2017 rent increase guideline which is 1.5%. The rent guideline is the percentage by which a landlord can raise a tenants rent without applying to the Landlord and Tenant Board for permission. A landlord is still required to give a tenant 90 days written notice and the increase can only be taken 12 months after the tenant has moved in or 12 months after the last rent increase came into effect.

The guideline applies to most private residential units. It does not apply to vacant units, units built or occupied after November 1, 1991, social housing units or commercial units.

To see if the guideline applies to you or for help with calculating your rent increase, please contact the tenant hotline at 416-921-9494.

For more information on the 2017 guideline for Ontario, visit:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/rent-increase-guideline

LandlordWatch.com was launched Wednesday by ACORN Canada and RentLogic. The site uses City of Toronto data to rank what it calls Toronto’s “worst” landlords and properties by the number of violations issued by city inspectors.

LandlordWatch’s list of most-cited buildings, ranked by violations issued by city inspectors since 2014:

1. 500 Dawes Rd. — Havcare Investments Inc. — 174 violations

2. 1501 Woodbine Ave. — Arsandco Investments Inc. — 145

3. 104-105 West Lodge Ave. — Bnai Fishel Corp. — 138

4. 275 Bleecker Street — Toronto Community Housing Corporation — 130

5. 15 Eva Road — IMH 15 Eva Ltd. — 83

6. 34 Heydon Park Road — Gupta Rakesh, Gupta Swarash — 82

7. 650 Parliament Street — Parwell Investments Inc. & Bleeman Holdings Inc. — 79

8. 126 Bellamy Road North — 2255761 Ontario Limited, Bell-Am Apartments Limited — 76

9. 125 Lawton Blvd. — Robertson, Alexander —73

10. 20 Pell Street — Raimondo Puopolo Corp. — 64

To read more about 1501 Woodbine and the living conditions there, visit:

http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2016/05/18/life-at-one-of-the-most-cited-buildings-in-toronto.html

Recently proposed amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act would further disadvantage tenants who are pet-owners and animal lovers and goes a long way in demonstrating the government’s lack of compassion and care for animals.

The government is  looking into legalizing previously invalid “no Pet” provisions in leases and tenancy agreements in an attempt to boost the supply of rental housing.

This will likely  create greater barriers to finding and keeping housing for tenants who would like to keep a pet.

Please consider signing the petition started in opposition to this proposal. It is available at:

https://www.change.org/p/stop-discrimination-against-pets

In what’s being hailed a major win for tenants, city council has approved the next step towards licensing landlords. It’s a move advocates say will lead to better adherence to building standards and improve the quality of life of the half of Toronto’s residents who live in apartments. City council is not being asked to create a landlord licensing system now but to vote on holding public consultations this fall.

City staff have proposed that licensing would apply to 3,300 apartment buildings that are three storeys or higher, with 10 units or more. Information would be made available to prospective and existing tenants as part of a proactive approach to ensuring that building standards are maintained, including requiring landlords to develop maintenance plans.

Councillor Josh Matlow, who chairs the tenant issues committee and has pushed for licensing, said council’s vote sent a “strong message” that council plans to support tenants. “Today demonstrated that the landlord lobby’s efforts to misinform the public and try to manipulate tenants into advocating against their own interests failed,” he said.

To read more on this developing issue, visit:

1. Toronto Council to Look at Licensing Apartment Buildings:

https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2016/06/06/toronto-council-to-look-at-licensing-apartment-buildings.html

1. Council approves next step towards landlord licensing

https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2016/06/08/council-approves-next-step-towards-landlord-licensing.html

Tenant Action Meeting

Monday, June 13 6:30 PM 

West Neighbourhood House

Stan Meek Community Hall

248 Ossington Avenue at Dundas 

The Ontario government wants to make it easier for landlords to evict people. They want to make it more difficult for renters to fight evictions for late rent at the Landlord and Tenant Board. They also want to make it easier for landlords to evict people for how they live. This is about helping landlords get rid of working class and immigrant tenants so they can jack up rents and make more money.

 Organized by Parkdale Community Legal Services & Kensington-Bellwoods

Community Legal Services

For Renters in the South West of Toronto

For more information: <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]

Hello Members and Friends!

Join the FMTA for our 42nd Annual General Meeting on Saturday June 18th, 2016 at 1pm.

Location: 120 Carlton St - Party Room. Corner of Jarvis and Carlton St. Closest station is College Subway.

 All FMTA AGM's include:

• Board and Staff Reports
• Presentation of the Audited Financial Statements
• Appointment of the Auditor
• Member motions
• Board Elections

2015/16 has seen the FMTA undertake a number of campaigns related to Above Guideline Rent Increases, rent control, landlord licensing, federal funding, co-op housing agreements, inclusionary zoning and changes to the Residential Tenancies Act.  We also faced an eviction from our offices!

Come for the AGM; Stay for the Tenant Assembly!

We strongly urge all members to attend this year as well for our Tenant Association Assembly!

This years assembly will extend an invitation to all our Tenant Association members to discuss campagins and acheivements in their buildings.  The FMTA has helped to build 120 Tenant Associations in the past 2 years and they've all got amazing stories.

LAst year, we were looking to make plans of action to get the rights tenants deserve.  This year we are looking at the fruits of that labour and working with campagins that are well underway.

Find out what the Federation has done in 2015/16 as well as what we've got planned for 2016/17.

All active members of the FMTA are welcome to attend the AGM, while all tenant advocates are able to attend the tenant assembly! 

Hope to see you there!

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]

The FMTA is proud to present our newest publication - The Tenant Association Toolkit.

The Toolkit is chalked full of information on starting a tenant association along with amazing tools to help maintain one: newsletter templates, info on how to open a TA bank account, sign up and membership form tempaltes, etc.

Funding for the development of the toolkit was provided by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Download the toolkit today at torontotenants.org/tatoolkit

A number of proposed changes have alarmed tenants and tenant advocates. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has put forward a range of proposals such as:

• Legalizing No Pet Provisions and No Smoking provisions in leases

• Making changes to the way in which eviction appeals and reviews are handled

• Re-opening the rent cap to see if it is working

Advocates feel that these and other proposals stand to further empower landlords while marginalizing tenants. The rationale put forward by the government is that these proposals would make it more attractive for small landlords to enter the market and that in turn would boost the supply of rental housing.

These proposals will be up for public consultation till June 30.

The FMTA and other allied organizations were quick to point out that these proposals reflect landlord demands going back several years and that there is no evidence whatsoever to support that these changes would result in the creation of a single unit of rental housing.  The FMTA received a lot of press coverage for this issue. To read some of it, visit:

Ontario mulls changes to rental rules, prompting concern from tenants groups

Mike Crawley, April 21, 2016; CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rental-changes-1.3546107

Tenant groups sound the alarm over proposed changes to rental rules in Ontario

Luke Simcoe, Apr 22, Metro News

http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2016/04/22/toronto-tenants-criticize-proposed-changes-to-rental-rules-.html

Ontario launches public consultation on tenancy act changes

Luke Simcoe, Apr 28, Metro News

http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2016/04/28/ontario-launches-public-consultation-on-tenancy-act-changes.html

To read over the proposals and find contact information to make submissions, visit:

http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page14836.aspx

Toronto is contemplating a licensing system for apartment buildings ‚Äî similar to the city’s Dine Safe restaurant program ‚Äî to give inspectors more teeth when landlords fail to meet minimum property standards.

The proposed Rent Safe program would apply to about 3,300 rental buildings with 10 units or more that are three storeys or higher, according to a city staff report. Condos and co-ops would be excluded.

If approved by council next fall, it could be in place as early as January 2017.

Aspects of the proposal, including the possibility of prohibiting landlords with outstanding work orders from applying for rent increases or leasing vacant units, were on the city’s licensing and standards committee agenda. The proposed “Rent Safe” name is also up for discussion.

The broader background report, presented to the city’s tenant issues subcommittee in February, suggests the program could be funded through a licensing fee of $12 to $15 per unit annually. Although city-owned Toronto Community Housing buildings would not be subject to the fee, they would still need to comply with licensing requirements, according to the report.

This step would build on previous efforts, such as the city’s building audit program. Since 2008, more than 1,000 apartment towers have been audited as part of the city’s existing apartment audit and enforcement program. More than 58,000 deficiencies were found and over 4,500 work orders were issued.

A recent city audit of 103 and 105 West Lodge Ave. in the city’s Parkdale area, revealed more than 100 deficiencies in common areas including graffiti and feces on the walls, cracked ceilings and floor tiles and smelly garbage.

“If (Rent Safe) is approved, it could be the biggest change to tenant rights in Toronto in years,” said Geordie Dent, Executive Director of the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations.

To read more on landlord licensing, visit:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/04/09/toronto-considers-apartment-licensing-to-crack-down-on-bad-landlords.html

For more information on 103-105 West Lodge, visit:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/04/08/city-cracks-down-on-notorious-parkdale-apartments.html