New rules coming for London landlords as ‘renoviction’ bylaw backed

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London city council took a big step Tuesday to protect Londoners from bad-faith “renovictions,” approving the drafting of a bylaw that will place new conditions on landlords and leaving the door open for requiring them to provide displaced tenants with another place to stay.

City council voted unanimously to advance the licensing and professional approval components of the proposed “renoviction” bylaw. Council also voted 8-7 to have staff look at requiring landlords to provide displaced tenants with another place to live or rental top-ups.

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“This piece to me is really key, because I think ultimately, this is how we ensure people are not displaced while these (renovations) are taking place,” Coun. Corrine Rahman said. “Without that part of this bylaw, I agree that I think it will lack teeth.”

Deputy mayor Shawn Lewis, and councillors Jerry Pribil, Peter Cuddy, Paul Van Meerbergen, Steven Hillier, Steve Lehman and Susan Stevenson voted against the motion to have staff explore additional help for tenants who are evicted for renovations, while all others were in support.

Council also defeated a motion for staff to study applying the eventual bylaw retroactively in a 10-5 vote.

The bylaw is intended to regulate evictions requiring tenants to vacate units while they are renovated or repaired.

Tenants have the right to return to their unit at the original rent, but critics charge that landlords can abuse the process to force out long-term tenants with no other place to live, and re-list their units for a significantly higher market rent.

As of now, the bylaw calls for three steps to curb so-called renovictions:

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• Landlords must get a $400 licence within seven days of the work
• An affidavit is required from the person who gave the tenant the eviction notice
• Approval from an engineer or architect that the repairs or renovations are so extensive, they require a vacancy

Politicians stood by the steps initially drafted by city staff, but Lewis in particular expressed his concern that requiring landlords to provide another place for tenants to live could encroach on provincial jurisdiction and discourage necessary renovations.

Under the provincial Residential Tenancies Act, landlords who issue tenants an N13 eviction notice for renovations must offer a tenant three months worth of rent, or a different unit to live.

“Licensing for a renovation that requires an N13 is absolutely … within our ability as a municipality,” Lewis said. “(Alternate accommodation) is where I struggle to see how as a municipality, we can operationalize and enforce … under the Residential Tenancies Act.”

Cuddy cautioned councillors not to punish good landlords, when renovations are legitimately needed.

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But several politicians pushed back, with downtown Coun. David Ferreira in particular pointing to a similar bylaw in Hamilton that calls for the same protection for tenants.

“It does seem to be something that we are able to do within our jurisdiction,” he said. “This specific item is among the top categories where Londoners want us to focus on.

“This motion is probably one of the pinnacle pieces that’s going to come out of this council, the way it is right now.”

The London chapter of ACORN, a tenants’ rights advocacy agency, is the main group behind the push for a renoviction bylaw, and the followup push to require landlords to provide another place for tenants to live while units are renovated.

Ilse Grills, a leader with the local chapter, said she was “ecstatic” to see the effort to require an alternate living space or rental top-ups, but was disappointed that many tenants facing renoviction will likely be left out.

“We’ll take victories where we can get them however small they might be,” she said. “I am certainly very, very glad that they’re willing to actually look at finding accommodations for these people that have been displaced.”

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Grills said the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board that presides over evictions doesn’t properly enforce the requirements. Tenants unaware of their rights may receive a notice to vacate from the landlord before an eviction notice is filed, she said.

City staff will present the final draft of the bylaw, complete with a report about requiring alternate living arrangements, to committee in the fall. Staff estimate the bylaw could be in effect beginning in 2025.

jmoulton@postmedia.com

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