Oshawa Councillor Brian Nicholson has raised concerns about the use of renovictions to remove tenants from their units, often under false pretenses.
Earlier this month, Whitby Council approved a motion to protect rental housing in the town by making it more difficult for landlords to evict tenants or demolish rental housing units (see related story below).
“One of the growing issues in Oshawa is the use of renovictions to remove tenants from their units, often under false pretenses,” said Nicholson. “I have asked our staff to prepare an investigation into this practice and to report back with their recommendations for actions to combat this practice,” he added in a social media post.
Nicholson, who serves as chair of Oshawa’s Safety and Facilities Services Committee, stated that the committee will consider a motion recommending measures to address the issue.
The proposed motion reads:
“That the Safety and Facilities Services Committee recommend to City Council:
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Whereas municipalities across Ontario are experiencing an affordable housing crisis which, in certain instances, has resulted in precarious tenancies due to the practice of renovictions; and,
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Whereas a renoviction is commonly understood as a situation where a tenant is formally evicted (through the legal process prescribed in the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, which is initiated when a landlord issues a tenant an N-13 notice of eviction) or informally evicted (without going through the proper legal process) because the landlord needs to make repairs or renovations to the rental unit or rental property that cannot be completed while the tenant continues to occupy the unit; and,
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Whereas in certain cases, renovictions are being undertaken in bad faith where there is an attempt by the landlord to evict long-time tenants that are paying lower than current market rent levels. The landlord initiates an eviction under the guise of undertaking necessary renovations or repairs only to subsequently increase the rents on vacated units to align with market rent levels; and,
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Whereas to discourage bad faith renovictions, several municipalities including the City of Hamilton and the City of Toronto have implemented Renovictions By-laws which require a landlord to apply for a licence (‘Residential Rental Renovation Licence’) prior to undertaking a renovation of the rental unit in cases where an N-13 notice of eviction has been issued; and,
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Whereas prior to undertaking a renovation of a residential rental unit, such Residential Rental Renovation Licences requires landlords to first comply with certain standards including but not limited to providing:
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proof of a valid building permit
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a report from a qualified person (e.g. engineer) that states that vacating the rental unit is required to complete the renovation
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tenant accommodation or compensation plan and payment of moving allowances to support tenants
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tenants’ rights information to all tenants impacted“
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Nicholson’s remarks and the proposed motion come as part of efforts to address housing affordability and tenant protection in Oshawa.
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Vote grab tactics. None sense