ACORN’s New Report: Rent Control Loopholes in Ontario – Case Study of AGIs

Above Guideline Rent Increases or AGIs are one of the main contributors to the loss of affordable housing in the province. In addition to the regular annual rent increases allowed by the province, the Ontario government allows landlords to circumvent rent control through AGIs. The most common reason for landlords doing AGIs is to pass on the cost of regular repair and maintenance to tenants. AGIs have more than doubled in the past two decades, becoming a commonplace tactic for corporate landlords across the province to extract more money from tenants.

ACORN’s NEW REPORT
ACORN released a new report today focusing on this rent control loophole. The summary report is based on data accessed by ACORN from the Ontario Landlord & Tenant Board (LTB) through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. The data pertains to the time period between 2017 and 2022 (until August 2022).

Check out the full report here.

Some of the main findings of the report:

• Data from Tribunals Ontario from 2003-2023 shows 8,402 AGIs were filed at the LTB.
• Over the past two decades, the number of AGIs have gone up by 107%.
• Toronto topped the charts with the highest number of AGI applications followed by Ottawa and Mississauga coming in the 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.
• The AGI data for 2022 (until August) shows that 78% of applications filed are by big corporate landlords and those identified as likely big corporate landlords.
• Repeat AGIs is a big issue! With respect to the type of landlord filing repeated AGIs in a single building, the analysis shows that out of the 152 addresses where the landlord could be identified:
  • 82-87% doing repeat AGIs in a single building are big corporate landlords.
  • 19 landlords filed an AGI application two or more times in multiple buildings between 2017 and Aug 2022. All these are big corporate landlords.
  • The three big corporate landlords who top the charts for filing repeated AGI applications at a singular address include Realstar Management Partnerships (17 locations) followed by Parkbridge Lifestyle Communities Inc (14 locations) and Terra Corp (11 locations).

Ontario ACORN’s Demands

• ACORN is demanding the Province ban AGIs.
• Expenses done to fix something because of chronic neglect should be considered an ineligible expenditure.
• AGIs expire! The onus of enforcing rent reductions after the AGIs expire should be on the LTB and landlord, not the tenants.
• Retrofits or energy conservation related expenses should not be eligible for AGIs.

Add your name to ACORN’s online action to send an email to Doug Ford, the Housing Minister and your MPP in support of banning AGIs and full rent control: https://acorncanada.org/take_action/tell-doug-ford-to-close-ontarios-rent-control-loopholes-now/