Despite pushback from some councillors over its effectiveness, London, Ont., passed a “renoviction” bylaw to deter bad landlords from using evictions to force lower-paying tenants out.
Earlier this week London became the third municipality in Ontario to approve measures to prevent unfair evictions.
London’s deputy city manager called the plan an important step to protect renters from being forced out of their homes and discourage landlords from abusing the N13 notices to evict tenants.
“We know renting is a vital housing option in London and that renovictions result in the displacement of tenants and the loss of important affordable market rentals in the community,” says Scott Mathers, deputy city manager of planning and economic development.
An N13 allowed landlords to end a tenancy agreement because they want to demolish, repair, or convert the resident unit for another use.
Some critics say landlords often use these to get rid of long-term tenants paying lower rents.
Under the change, landlords must apply for a Rental Unit Repair Licence for the renovation or repair of the rental unit and obtain a report certified by a qualified professional stating that the repairs or renovations are extensive enough for the renter to vacate.
Landlords in London must apply for the licence within seven days of giving the tenant an N13 notice and providing the tenant with a copy of the Tenant Information Package.
The Rental Unit Repair Licence costs $600 per unit and is valid for 180 days from the date of issuance.
Administrative monetary penalties for non-compliance will range from $250 to $2,500. Multiple penalties can be applied to an individual situation and escalated if offences are ignored or repeated.
All councillors ultimately voted in favour of the new bylaw, but several hoped more could be done to strengthen it.
Coun. Sam Trosow expressed skepticism over the bylaw, calling the penalties “weak.”
“I have to say, and I’ll leave it at this to the chair, how very disappointed I am that the city of London, after all, we’ve been through and after the compelling testimony that we’ve heard from person after person at public participation meetings, that we couldn’t do better than this in terms of offering accommodation,” Trosow said.
Trosow had concerns over the ability to enforce the fines, noting that those acting in bad faith would likely be the same people who would not apply for a bylaw, making it hard to track.
Before it was approved, Coun. Corrine Rahman and several others recommended referring the draft back to city staff to add protections for displaced tenants by requiring landlords to provide alternative accommodations or rent top-ups if needed if they were living in a place with higher rent during the renovations.
Coun. Skylar Frankie was also in support of deferring the motion to add more protections for tenants.
“We need the top-up and the alternative accommodation in this bylaw to be actually useful. I’ll give an example from my ward, and if we just move forward with the bylaws, it currently stands with administering the licensing. It actually won’t help a bunch of residents who are about to be evicted in my ward,” Frankie said.
The motion to defer the bylaw was ultimately defeated after Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis pointed out that deferring the bylaw would push back its implementation, noting that it is currently set to come into effect in March 2025, but if they deferred it, he said it could add months of delays before it comes into effect.
Lewis also pointed to Hamilton as the only comparator and said the neighbouring city is currently experiencing several issues implementing it and is “scrambling to implement exemptions around the top-up in alternate accommodation pieces.”
Mayor Josh Morgan addressed some of the pushback from councillors and some residents criticizing the move did not go far enough, saying it was a starting point.
“You may not be happy with how many (steps) we’ve taken, but we will continue to work with the community. We will continue to monitor how this plays out in other communities. We have a review that will be conducted as part of this bylaw, and I think we’re relatively unanimous as a council to say we’ve got to do something here,” Morgan said.
Morgan also pointed out that while it is important for the municipalities to take action, the responsibility also falls on other levels of government to protect tenants.
In January, Hamilton became the first city in Ontario with a bylaw to stop renovations. The Hamilton legislation forces property owners to apply for a special permit for their rental addresses at a cost of about $700 when seeking a provincial N13 notice, which ends a tenancy due to a desire to demolish, repair or convert a rental unit.
Under the Hamilton legislation eviction and renovations, under the law, would only be able to take place if all building permits have been secured and an engineer’s report confirms vacancy is needed.
— with files from Global News’ Sean Previl