WEEK OF MAY 22 2023 NEWSREEL WITH JEFFREY MCNEIL
A study from UBC is making headlines this week, stating that British Columbia has the highest rate of evictions in Canada. We look at the headlines and data to see what’s being said and more importantly – what’s not being said.
read moreSASK. LANDLORD ASSOCIATION WARNS OF ‘ALARMING TREND’ IN EVICTIONS OF LOW-INCOME RENTERS
The recent rise in rental and utility costs across the province — on top of increasing inflation — is leading to an “alarming trend” of evictions among low-income renters, according to the CEO of the Saskatchewan Landlord Association. “It’s kind of a perfect storm for the cost-of-living crisis that we’re seeing right now,” Cameron Choquette said. Last July, SaskEnergy said it would implement a 17 per cent increase to its natural gas rates effective Aug. 1,...
read moreONTARIO RENTAL EVICTION NOTICES ARE NORMALIZING, WHICH CAN MEAN DOUBLING NEXT YEAR
Ontario rental evictions cratered during the initial public health restrictions. Government of Ontario data shows that rental evictions dropped sharply for the 2020-2021 period. The impact was likely short-lived, with the current period already rising more briskly. As public health restrictions are lifted, expect applications for evictions to normalize. That can mean double the filings seen during the pandemic — numbers typically seen pre-2020. About Today’s Eviction Filing Data Today we’re...
read moreSUPREME COURT OF CANADA DISMISSES CHALLENGE OF NEW WESTMINISTER’S RENOVICTIONS BYLAW
The Supreme Court of Canada has backed the city’s efforts to deter renovictions. According to a press release from the City of New Westminster, the Supreme Court of Canada informed the city on Dec. 9 that it had dismissed an application for leave to appeal the city’s rental units bylaw amendment. That decision followed a previous ruling by the BC Court of Appeal, which upheld the city’s right to adopt the bylaw amendment to deter the practice of renovictions and to help preserve affordable...
read moreP.E.I. DECLARES MORATORIUM ON ‘RENOVICTIONS’ FOR 2 YEARS
Prince Edward Island has enacted a two-year moratorium on what have become known as “renovictions” — evictions of tenants by their landlords in order to renovate their units. Politicians from all parties have acknowledged that the practice, allowed under the province’s Rental of Residential Property Act, is sometimes used by landlords to skirt around provincial rent controls. “What it means is that, immediately, there is a halt on people coming home and finding eviction...
read moreTENANTS LIVE RENT-FREE IN LANDLORD’S HEAD – AND HOUSE
A local landlord says she is not looking to shame anyone by speaking out and is sharing her story to shine a light on how broken the tenant-landlord dispute resolution system has become — a bureaucratic boondoggle only worsened by the backlog created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Samantha Currie, who owns multiple rental properties in North Bay has taken legal action to recoup her considerable financial losses — estimated to have reached $30,000 — for unpaid rent and utilities dating back to July...
read morePROJET MONTREAL PROPOSES LANDLORD CERTIFICATION TO PROTECT TENANTS FROM RENT HIKES, RENOVICTIONS
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante and her party Projet Montréal is proposing the creation of a responsible landlord certificate “to protect the affordability and quality of Montreal’s rental housing network.” This comes after what some have called “abusive” increases in rental prices, as well as the growing phenomenon of renovictions, where tenants see themselves evicted under the guise of significant home renovations. “The certification will be required of...
read moreTENANT GROUP, NEW OWNERS SQUARE OFF OVER VANIER ‘RENO-VICTIONS’
A group of holdout tenants from two Vanier apartment blocks say they’re being unfairly “reno-victed” from their homes by the buildings’ new owners. The owners, however, say they’ve done their best to accommodate tenants and that the buildings were infested with rodents and bed bugs and had been flagged by the Ontario Fire Marshal for “numerous fire safety issues.” Several of the residents have lived in the two six-unit buildings at 249 and 253 Pères-Blancs Avenue for more than 30 years.Mark...
read moreLANDLORDS WAIT ON TENS OF THOUSANDS IN UNPAID RENT DUE TO ‘EXHAUSTING’ ONTARIO BOARD DELAYS
Ankit Patel says he inadvertently became a landlord when he bought his dream home. Now, tenant problems and a major backlog at Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) have put him in so much debt, he has to sell his mother’s home and has even considered selling the dream home. The 38-year-old is among other landlords who came forward to share their stories about how LTB delays are creating stressful situations and financial hardships. “This was our life savings,” says...
read moreEVICTION BAN MAY END SOON, SO WHERE WILL ALL THOSE PEOPLE GO?
Ontario’s ban on evictions may soon be coming to an end once the province reopens the economy, but a Guelph lawyer who represents some tenants is wondering where all of those people will go. The provincial government put a halt to residential eviction enforcement early during the pandemic, but Jeff Schlemmer, staff lawyer with the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County, told GuelphToday the tribunals that order those evictions have gone ahead. Some tenants may have come to the tribunal...
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