Tenants of the Royal Oak Terrace apartments are speaking out against management they claim has ignored and gaslit them over necessary repairs.
Located from 1126 to 1154 Adelaide St. N., the apartments are owned by
Old Oak Properties, which owns multiple other apartment complexes throughout the city.
Tenants at Royal Oak report multiple issues with their units, including, but not limited to black mold, leaks from both the ceilings and floors, and failing appliances.
A march organized by the tenant union, ACORN, took place Wednesday and saw tenants and advocates head to Old Oak’s offices located at 150 Dufferin Ave.
Anna, a tenant at 1150 Adelaide, says all she wants from the management is for her building to be fixed.
“It’s not my fault that these things are happening. The building is old, it’s 60 or 70 years old,” she says.
“The problem is when we call, we can’t even get a hold of somebody, it’s hard to talk to someone, it’s hard to email or if you email and then if you say something back to them that they don’t like, they just don’t respond.”
She adds that she’s been unable to access the website tenants need to use to submit a work order.
Other tenants report that when a work order is placed, it’ll later be marked as complete, despite no repairs being done.
“This is ongoing. They took over the property two and a half years ago. But they’re using the same tactics as the other companies. And it’s very frustrating. All we want is things to be fixed.”
980 has reached out to Old Oak Properties for comment but has received none at this time.
Jordan Smith, chair of the Carling-Stoneybrook chapter of ACORN, says the conditions Royal Oak tenants live in are “abysmal.”
“Long standing tenants, who’ve been there, five plus years are facing absolutely disgusting levels of disrepair, it’s absolutely abysmal. Some of these issues are outstanding months, if not years, tenants are at the end of their ropes.”
He adds that while tenant rights in Ontario are quite protective, due to an overload of cases, landlords aren’t being held accountable.
“Our tribunal system is stretched to the max, where it’s actually become in itself an absurdity. Because of the way the tenants are pushed through, and the lack of resources, the tenants have to rely on themselves.”
Tenants of 1150 Adelaide allege that they’ve received rental increases without any notice. By law, tenants need a minimum of 90 days notice before rent can be increased.
Some tenants report, however, that they can’t even pay their rent. Tenants say the main office removed the debit machine that could be used to pay rent and staff will lock the doors to the office when they arrive to pay by cash.
“They’ve stopped accepting my rent, and I want to pay my rent. They’ve taken away almost all forms of payment.,” Anna says. “All I want for them is to fix things, accept rent, and let me go into the office as a free person.”
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