Tenants of Parkdale building protesting evictions accuse landlords of retaliation

The tenants of a Parkdale building say landlords are retaliating against those protesting eviction notices that have been handed out at the low-rise.

Posters and banners have gone up across Parkdale, calling out the landlords of 12 Lansdowne Avenue who served “N13” eviction notices to the entire building for extensive renovations.

Some of the posters read, “Parkdale has a pest problem,” “Evan Johnsen: Stop the Evictions,” and “Neil Spiegel: Stop the Evictions,” naming the landlords directly.

The landlords have now reportedly issued another eviction notice to two tenants who hung banners from their balconies in protest. Parkdale Organize, a tenants’ rights group, says the landlords claim that the tenants have committed an “illegal” act by hanging the banners.

Parkdale Organize says these new eviction notices contradict the landlords’ previous statements of wanting to build trust with the tenants and allow them to return after the renovations.

The landlords released a statement to CityNews saying the property’s electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems need repair. Structural repairs to the building are also required, while extensive renovations to the suites and common areas are “necessary.”

“Efforts to publicly defame the owners of 12 Lansdowne, mischaracterize their intentions, or willfully misrepresent the facts will not deter efforts to responsibly and lawfully restore and revitalize the building.”

They say once the work has been completed, the building will remain “an affordable rental housing option for the people of Parkdale,” and the temporary dislocation of tenants is necessary for this work.

Nikolai McLeod, a tenant of 12 Lansdowne, says they’ve been trying to get in touch with the landlords for the last two years since they bought the building, as “every time there’s an issue in the building, nothing gets done about it.”

“We’ve never been able to get a hold of them,” said McLeod. “They’re very good at using third parties to sort of keeping us at arm’s length. So we started putting up some posters around town [and] putting up some banners asking them to stop the evictions in this building.”

After receiving the N13 eviction notices, he said they tried to push back. McLeod also alleges it was implied that tenants would not return after the renovations.

“They kind of went around trying to buy everybody out, sort of implied to people that they would no longer be able to keep living here.”

McLeod said what they are hoping will happen is that the tenants will be allowed to stay while the renovations happen around them.

“We’d like some firm commitments from them that we will not have to leave our apartments. They can do renovations around us. We’re all reasonable people. We’re happy to accommodate reasonable requests,” he admits.

“We see what’s happening in our neighbourhood, what’s happening to poor people that live in our neighbourhood, and we know that the only recourse for poor working-class people in Toronto and especially for tenants, our only recourse is organizing,” said Parkdale Organize member Paterson Hodgson.

“Landlords can attack us legally. They can attack us with scary letters [and] with their money. And the Landlord and Tenant Board is basically set up as a factory to evict people. The only defence that we have is organizing together,” explained Hodgson.

“Landlords like to say that we’re taking these things too far, but they’re the ones that are trying to push us out of our homes, and I can’t think of anything worse than losing your home.”

In a statement posted on their Facebook page, Parkdale Organize said the tenants of 12 Lansdown will be calling on the support of neighbours in the coming weeks, and “it is in all of our interest to be there for them.”