The Ontario government announced today a new set of measures to “strengthen protections against evictions due to renovations, demolitions and conversions, as well as those for landlord’s own use“. This in response to stories about what has been dubbed as “renovictions” – i.e. evicting for renovations.
The government also plans to hire more adjudicators and staff to tackle the backlog of several months-long delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB). “Ontario is investing $6.5 million to appoint an additional 40 adjudicators and hire five staff to improve service standards and continue to reduce active applications and decision timeframes at the Landlord and Tenant Board.” said the Ford government.
While many landlords welcome this announcement, particularly the increase on staffing, what is lacking is the incentive to be a landlord in Ontario. Faced with unbearable costs of maintaining properties standards for non-paying tenants while waiting for up to 11 months hearing date, many small landlords in Ontario have just given up. They are selling or leaving the property empty for fear of getting a non-paying tenant they are unable to get a resolution at the notoriously backlogged Ontario Landlords and Tenants Board (LTB) the quasi-judicial body with exclusive jurisdiction over landlords and tenants disputes.
This “punitive” measure will even discourage renovation as it is almost impossible to recover investment because of the cap on rental increase way below inflation said some experts. Experts predict this will destroy the rental housing stock citing similar measures in other U.S. jurisdictions.
In SOLO landlords private discussions, the majority are now convinced there is “war on small landlords in Ontario” and these measures will make it even more difficult to get rental for good and honest prospective tenants.
“The Ontario government is ‘discouraging’ small landlords – the bedrock of affordable housing by using a punitive approach. The majority of disputes are for non-payment of rent and there is no reason to even hold a hearing when there is non-payment of rent” said Boubah Bah, chair of the small landlords advocacy group Small Ownership Landlords Ontario Inc which is preparing another protest on April 29th, 2023 in Mississauga to demand compensation from the Ontario government
Others are even more sanguine in landlords private discussions chat rooms on social media as witnessed in the screenshots below.
