Toronto apartment renovations, move-out notices spark renewed calls to protect tenants
Posted July 11, 2022 6:23 pm.
Last Updated July 11, 2022 8:40 pm.
An apartment building in Toronto’s west end is the latest location that’s seeing anxious tenants afraid of losing their homes set against the need for landlords to do renovations, and it’s a situation that once again has advocates calling for renters to be better protected.
Tenants and their supporters held a rally outside of Pulis Investments in downtown Brampton. The company owns 1570 Lawrence Ave. W., the six-storey apartment building at the centre of the concerns by those at the rally.
“Stop the evictions, stop the evictions,” the participants chanted.
Sandeep Saran told CityNews he lived in the building for 14 years and the Amesbury neighbourhood for 23 years. He said he’s one of the tenants who received an N13 notice, a non-fault process undertaken when a landlord wants to conduct major renovations, demolish a dwelling, or convert a unit into a non-residential use.
“Moving out, where do we go? It’s like three times what we’re paying right now,” Saran said, adding he can’t afford to pay more for monthly rent than he does now or the related moving costs.
He also questioned why he and others can’t stay in vacant units inside the building.
“If they want to renovate, we’re ready to cooperate. We can move to upstairs for a short time, one or two months, and then we’ll come back to our apartment if they seriously don’t want to evict us. If their intention is not to evict us, they can do that,” Saran said.
Many people CityNews spoke with said the paper notices and no public meetings on the issue have not given much of a chance for them to make their case to stay.
Debbie, who identified herself as an eight-year resident of the building, echoed the concerns.
“What we are against is the eviction notices that we are getting because there is nowhere in the city we can pay what we are paying,” she said.
Philip Zigman, a volunteer with Renovictions TO, said he and other volunteers were on hand to help residents keep their homes.
“Landlords can work with tenants if they wanted to keep their existing tenants,” he said.
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CityNews contacted Pulis Investments to ask about the rally, questions about moving into vacant units, and worries about extra costs tenants said they’ll face.
Kyle Pulis, the president and CEO of Pulis Investments, declined to appear on camera to discuss the matters. However, he issued a statement to say accusations the move is a “renoviction” is untrue.
“We have limited N13 notices for the required work to only the units where the work can not be completed safely while being occupied. All other work in the building is being completed with the tenants in the units at their original rents,” he wrote.
“In accordance with the N13 process, all tenants have been notified formally and informally that they can return to their units once the work has been completed also at their original rents. We have offered compensation and assistance to all the tenants affected in an effort to minimize the impact of the work required to be completed.”
With respect to questioning about the extra costs tenants can be face during the renovation process, Pulis reiterated the work is required for the “long-term livability of the building” and that “compassion and concern for those struggling to overcome economic challenge” is needed.
“To that end, we go beyond the requirements of the N13 and offer reasonable compensation and assistance to notified tenants,” he said, but specifics weren’t outlined in the response.
Even though the building has vacant units, Pulis said a shortage of contractors and ongoing work in those spaces “can not ensure alignment of schedules between the different work that needs to be completed.”
“For this reason, we can not commit to relocate these tenants within the building,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Pulis didn’t say if there would be a broader meeting to discuss the issue, but he said the company has been in “continuous communication” with tenants “both directly and through written letters.”
Michael Ford, the MPP for York South–Weston and Ontario’s minister of citizenship and multiculturalism, said in a brief statement on Monday his office has been speaking with tenants about the current situation.
“Our government is committed to working with the Landlord and Tenant Board to ensure a fair system and increase protections for tenants and landlords,” Ford wrote.
“I will continue to monitor the situation and hope for an [amicable] result for all parties involved.”
Ontario’s N13 process for tenants ‘quite opaque,’ lawyer says
Kevin Laforest, a Toronto lawyer who helps tenants but is not involved in this case, spoke with CityNews about the general N13 process — one he described as “quite opaque.”
Under Ontario law, tenants who need to leave for renovations can return to their unit at the same rent price (and including the provincial government’s approved annual increase if it comes during that time). But Laforest said the current law creates an extra burden for affected tenants, leaving them to monitor the landlord’s activities.
“They’re not obligated to receive any information about the status of how long these renovations are going to take, regular status updates into the progress, when an expected move-back-in date is,” he said.
LaForest said with soaring rents in the Greater Toronto Area, there is a strong incentive for landlords to turnover “rent-controlled tenancies” governed under provincial annual rent increase guidelines in favour of new occupants (who moved in on or after April 30, 2018, or those who live in a building erected after 2018).
“With rents increasing as quickly as they are, there’s a huge financial incentive for landlords to terminate old tenancies and to start new tenancies where they can reset the rent amounts to current market rates,” he said.
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When asked about what landlords who need to do renovations are supposed to do, Laforest said a major problem is that housing overall has become a commodity.
“These are now investment vehicles that are now bought and sold and used to make returns for investors, and the challenge with that then is that they’re always going to be looking to monetize to make more money out of this asset,” he said, noting the N13 process can be used as a tool.
Laforest went on to question the motives of proposed renovations at any apartment building, generally wondering if the goal is to upgrade a unit for existing tenants or to modernize a building to get new tenants in.
When it comes to potential fixes, he said the most consistent results have come after tenants worked together to organize and come forward with “creative solutions” to push back.
“In terms of a political solution, there’s a lot, I think, lip service done about very much, sort of, Band-Aid-type solutions. ‘We’ll make sure that tenants have the ability to go to the board or the ability to claim damages if the landlord doesn’t follow through on their obligations’ — that doesn’t get someone’s home back,” Laforest said.
Resources for Ontario tenants
List of community legal clinics in the Greater Toronto Area
Landlord and Tenant Board’s guide on eviction for personal use, demolition, repairs and conversion
