Dear Solo Members,
As a courtesy, I wanted to alert you, as well as landlords and tenants in general, that because residential rent for almost all units that you would be providers of was frozen in 2021, all tenants who were with you all through 2021, are now eligible for a 1.2% rent increase, effective January 1, 2022. You should use an N1 form from the Landlord and Tenant website > Forms for Landlords and deliver it by Sept. 30th (or by October 31 st if you do not mind starting the rent increase on Feb.1). Tenants must receive 90 days written notice using the N1 and the rent increase cannot exceed 1.2%, unless you have permission from the LTB for an above-the-guideline increase.
The old “anniversary” date does not matter (unless you had a new tenant move in part way through 2021). In the future, as long as the same tenants who were eligible for a rent increase in Jan. 2022 remain with you, you will be using Jan. 1 as the effective date of increase for all those tenants if you increase the rent when you are first eligible to do so. If you have a new tenant move in during 2022, then the anniversary date becomes relevant again and their rent should not increase until 12 months from the date they took occupancy. New buildings, additions to existing buildings and most new basement apartments that are occupied for the first time for residential purposes after November 15, 2018 are exempt from rent control.
If you have any questions regarding the rent increase or anything else landlord-tenant related, I am now offering a free Housing Helpline to all Ontario landlords and tenants on Saturdays from 10 am – 1 pm at the moment – 416-461-7051. Some other format may be of use in the future.
I also want to take the opportunity to let you know that SOLO is 25% of the way to reaching its fundraising goal. Lawyers and the government are in discussion. A financial contribution of $100 from each member, who has not yet donated, would put the fund over what is needed currently to pay the legal firm and hopefully have these discussions or lawsuit result in meaningful changes to the RTA, LTB and the pocketbooks of so many landlords who were not compensated for their losses during COVID-19. In my 35 years working in the field of rental housing, I have not seen an organization for landlords be as committed as SOLO is, so please don’t drop the ball now.
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To join the potential class action lawsuit (if necessary to achieve the above):
To Donate: https://soloontario.
Pearl M. Karimalis
Licensed Paralegal
SOLO Volunteer
