Ottawa city council passed a motion to research a potential bylaw which would address the city’s growing issue of “renovictions.” Renovictions occur when a landlord evicts a tenant to complete major renovations on the leased property. Oftentimes, the property is redeveloped for the purpose of attracting higher paying commercial and residential tenants.
William Gillis, of ACORN, an advocacy group for low and moderate income renters, says complaints like Bradley’s are nothing new, they happen every time there’s a cold snap. “So one of the things we help tenants with is that there is a legal minimum for temperature set by the Residential Tenancy Act,” said Gillis.
Tenant advocates are hoping to make further reforms as New Brunswick’s three per cent rent cap takes effect this Saturday. Nichola Taylor, the chair of NB ACORN, expressed relief at the upcoming implementation of the rent cap, highlighting the hardships many tenants have faced due to steep rent increases in recent years. “It is a sense of relief and a breath of fresh air that we finally have this rent cap in place,” Taylor said.
A three percent rent cap goes into effect on Saturday in New Brunswick. However, tenant advocates say the legislation may actually lead to more bad-faith evictions.
When Emanuel Melo received a letter from his landlord saying he had to vacate his Waterloo apartment of six years so workers could renovate the unit, he started looking for another place to live. But after speaking with his neighbours in the 15-unit building at 145 McGregor Cr., they invited an organizer of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) to a meeting.
Under the new cap, landlords must give tenants a six-month notice ahead of any three per cent rent increase, which can only be done once every 12 months. ACORN New Brunswick, a tenant advocacy group, says before the rent cap there were multiple reports of landlords raising rent by 60-to-70 per cent throughout the year. Nichola Taylor, chair for the New Brunswick branch, says it has been a long fight to get a rent cap in place for the province.
