Rabble: NDP plans to ban renovictions

This summer has seen the fastest month-over-month increase in rents in Canada, according to a report from rentals.ca. Rents from June to July increased at a higher rate than they did from May to June, which has been a consistent pattern throughout 2024.

Renovictions have represented a long-abused loophole in the rights of tenants. Essentially, renovictions refer to the act of landlords evicting a tenant from their dwelling, claiming their unit requires necessary renovations. In Ontario, should the tenant not state in writing their intention to return to the unit after the renovations are completed, the landlord may then put the unit back on the rental market at a much higher rent than it was previously.

Even if a tenant exercises their right to return to the property after the renovations at their previous rental rate, these renovations can take months, requiring the tenant and their family to find other accommodations in the meantime for themselves and their possessions.

Renovictions are a major contributing factor to the drastic increases in rent that have been seen in Canada over the past few years.

According to a report from ACORN Ontario, the use of N13 forms, which are what landlords need to file in order to enact a renoviction, rose by more than 300 per cent between 2017 and 2022. In municipalities that have seen runaway growth in housing and rental prices, like Ottawa, the use of N13s rose by 545 per cent in that same time period.

Renovictions are unpopular and often draw negative headlines in the media, so it is no wonder that of the landlords who filed N13s between January of 2022 and August of last year, a quarter of them did so behind the cover of a numbered company.

Some municipalities have already enacted renoviction restrictions

Some Ontario municipalities like Hamilton and London are already taking steps to restrict landlords from issuing N13 eviction notices and to protect tenants’ rights.

In April of this year, Hamilton became the first municipality in the province to introduce restrictions.

These restrictions include requiring landlords to apply to the city within seven days of issuing an N13 for permission to renovate, repair or demolish a property. Additionally, the landlord must find comparable accommodations for their tenant if the property must be vacated during the renovation, or provide them with compensation in lieu of accommodations.

“As Mayor, I am proud that Hamilton is leading the way in Ontario to better support and protect tenants,” said Hamilton mayor Andrea Horwath in a press release. “I know that many in our city continue to struggle with affordable and stable housing. This landmark by-law is a crucial step forward in protecting our community’s renters, preventing our citizens from being displaced, and providing them with the stability and fairness that everyone deserves.”

NDP seeks a nationwide ban

Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh visited London, ON last week —a city considering its own restrictions on renovictions — to announce his party’s plan to address the problem.

“For families, it’s harder than ever to find a decent apartment, and harder still to afford it. Rent is through the roof. And on top of that, renters live in fear of being kicked out by a corporate landlord who claims renovations are needed when, really, they just want to jack up the rent between tenants,” said Singh at the event in London.

Singh explained that, if elected, his government would seek to provide incentives to municipalities to pass legislation that would restrict or ban the use of renovictions nationwide.

NDP MP Lindsay Mathyssen who appeared with Singh at the London event said that this was about protecting tenants rights and ensuring affordability.

“The truth is that we can get rent prices back under control. One step in making that happen is the New Democrats’ plan to change the rules to end the unfair and cruel practice of putting people out on the street so that a few at the top make a bigger profit. Jagmeet Singh will outlaw renovictions,” Mathyssen said.

*********

Article by Nick Seebruch for Rabble