Toronto Star: License landlords to protect tenants: Editorial
The city is considering a licensing system to ensure tenants have a “safe, secure and decent place to live.” It should go ahead and license landlords, as it does restaurateurs.
Toronto ACORN was founded in 2004, with the first organized group in Canada being formed in Weston / Mt Dennis after tenants took their slum-lord to task and won $250,000 in rent abatements. In the next ten years Toronto ACORN spread to every part of the city leading the fight and winning significant victories including raising the minimum wage; strengthening of the enforcement of apartment building standards; regulating the payday loan industry in Canada; and countless improvements in our neighbourhoods. In the next year we plan to fight for a new Residential Tenancy Act; to turn up the heat on predatory lenders that sell consolidation loans; to continue our fight to get the city of Toronto to license all landlords in the city; and to keep the pressure on to close the digital divide.
Toronto ACORN has local meetings in your neighbourhood and they are always open for new people to get involved. Join Toronto ACORN now!
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The city is considering a licensing system to ensure tenants have a “safe, secure and decent place to live.” It should go ahead and license landlords, as it does restaurateurs.
New website aggregates landlords and addresses with the highest numbers of City of Toronto investigations in an effort to highlight the need for better regulations
A new website has ranked the 100 worst landlords and apartment buildings in Toronto, information that should prove very useful for prospective renters in this city.
Check out to see what buildings are on the list
LandlordWatch.com seeks to "level the playing field" between landlords and tenants using open data.
LandlordWatch.com ranks landlords and buildings in Toronto based on violations issued by city inspectors.
Check out this news clip from CITY TV from last night. It clearly lays out why ACORN has been calling for Toronto landlords to need a license to rent.
City committees begin debate on licensing proposal to give inspectors more power to crack down on bad landlords.
Web giant bows to advocates who say the lending practice exploits the poor and vulnerable.
City of Toronto recommendations for licensing landlords include mandating the upkeep and maintenance of the interiors and exteriors of buildings along with a licensing fee for landlords. The recommendations will now be subject to public consultation and many tenant advocacy groups say they are a step in the right direction.