The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic says area landlords are increasingly using a tactic called “own use” in order to get higher rents.
That’s when a landlord falsely tells a tenant to vacate the unit because they need it for a family member who will be moving in. But the landlord turns around and rents it out again at a higher rate.
Hamilton and District Apartment Association president Arun Pathak says it’s not a common practice but, acknowledges it happens.
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He says some landlords are tempted because they’re feeling the squeeze of increasing utility costs and a limit on rent hikes.
Pathak says the Queen’s Park bill to protect tenants from unfair rent increases may not make the situation better.
He says an exemption from rent controls for buildings built after 1991 and an above-guideline increase allowance for an unexpected utility hike will be revoked under the proposed legislation.
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Pathak says “while the government has taken some action, it’s attacking the symptom, but not the root cause” of the problem.
He adds “what is needed is an industry that develops hundreds and thousands of new rental units every year, but that isn’t happening.”
Pathak says this is just “taking a problem and making it worse.”
He also has a word of caution for any landlords thinking about evicting current tenants to hike the rent on a unit: “It is illegal and can wind up costing a landlord more in fines and compensation.”
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