More than a dozen Londoners let members of city council know how they felt about the city’s renoviction bylaw during a council committee meeting Monday afternoon.
At a Community and Protective Services committee meeting, a public participation meeting was held to gather feedback on the proposed bylaw. It aims to curb bad-faith N13 notices, otherwise known as renovictions.
A N13 notice is used by landlords to inform tenants that significant renovations need to be done to their units and they need to relocate. While some N13s are in good faith, some landlords have been accused of abusing the notice to evict current tenants so rent can be increased.
The bylaw as it stands would require landlords to pay $400 per-unit fee for a renovation licence from the city within seven days of serving the N13 notice. It would also require approval from a city engineer or architect that the repairs/renovations warrant the tenant vacating the unit.
While the bylaw is a step in the right direction, it lacks necessary tenant protections, according to co-chair of the Carling-Stoneybrook chapter of ACORN London Nawton Chiles.
“What we’re looking for is to require the landlords to find alternative accommodations for tenants, while the renovation is ongoing, and that is not there,” Chiles said outside City Hall prior to the meeting.
“Even if landlords pay this small (cost) to the city for rent evicting a tenant, the tenant themselves will still have to find housing, which if they’re on a fixed and limited income is increasingly difficult.”
Additionally, the bylaw as proposed is lacking when it comes to preventing renovictions and fining landlords who may be found in bad faith, Chile said.
“As it stands right now, that fine for licensing that (the city) has right now will not provide enough financial disincentive to stop renovictions.”
One of the Londoners who spoke at the public participation meeting, Dominique Millette, is facing what she calls a renoviction at her home on Becher Street in London’s Old South neighbourhood. She says the bylaw isn’t nearly strong enough to protect tenants.
“(Landlords) are getting a slap on the wrist and they just think it’s the cost of doing business and…fines have not been up to the maximum at all,” Millette said. “When tenants want to collect whatever judgment is in their favour, they have to go to small claims court, that takes another few years. That’s just not acceptable.”
Landlord Darren Keenan says many landlords in London are “sick to death” of multiple levels of government telling them how they can rent, and that the bylaw just puts another cost and restriction on them.
“I’m capped to 2.5-per cent rental increases per year, but my expenses go up…7.5 per cent over the course of the next three years. I’m the one paying the property taxes, but I can’t increase my rent to cover that,” Keenan said. “We didn’t create this housing issue. We didn’t bring this to fruition. But I’m allowed to make money, that’s why I do this.”
After the public participation meeting concluded, councillors amended the motion to direct staff to report back on possible alternative accommodation for tenants when served an N13 notice, and to report back on language that would apply protection to residents that have already received a bad-faith N13.
Ward 13 Coun. David Ferreira says preventing people from losing their homes through the bylaw will save the city money in the long run.
“We are speaking about not only how do we keep people in their housing, how do we keep people in their affordable housing, but also, how do we minimally impact the cost towards Londoners in general?” Ferreira said.
“This is a motion that will do that.”
The motion, along with the committee recommendation, goes to full council on July 23.