London ‘renoviction’ bylaw approved but tenants unhappy: ‘Next to nothing’

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London is set to become the second city in Ontario with a bylaw to protect tenants from bad faith “renovictions” – but it falls far short of what a tenants’ group demanded and won’t be in place for half a year.

“I absolutely despise that I need to use this line, but the reality is that something is better than nothing,” said Jordan Smith, a leader of the London chapter of ACORN, a national organization that advocates for tenants.

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“At the same time, this is next to nothing, and we’re going to spend the next year just pointing that out, but I think the reality is going to come to fruition.”

ACORN held a “camp out” outside London city hall before the start of the city council meeting when councillors debated the proposed bylaw imposing new conditions on landlords who issue eviction notices so they can renovate units.

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

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.

The new bylaw requires landlords who issue an N13 notice to:

• get a $600 licence from the city within seven days of the work
• provide an affidavit from the person who gave the tenant the eviction notice
• get approval from an engineer or architect that the repairs or renovations are so extensive, they require a vacancy

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“We have decided to take steps here, we may not be happy with how many we’ve taken, but we will continue to work with the community,” Mayor Josh Morgan said. “I think we’re relatively unanimous as a council to say ‘We’ve got to do something here.’”

ACORN began the push for a renoviction bylaw in London following the issuing of eviction notices to tenants at several London apartment buildings, including 1270 and 1280 Webster St.

The group’s members, who also sat in the gallery at council chambers while the proposed bylaw was debated, had called for the bylaw to require landlords to provide alternate accommodations or rental top-ups to tenants.

City staff had argued in a report against adding rental top-ups or finding alternate accommodation to the bylaw. Doing so would require the city to hire more staff to deal with requests from landlords seeking exceptions, staff said. The report also pointed out London’s low vacancy rate could make it difficult for landlords to find temporary units for tenants.

Coun. Corrine Rahman attempted to refer the proposed bylaw back to committee in order to add the additional requirements for landlords.

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“If this is something we really want to do, to strengthen this bylaw, to make it have the teeth it needs to prevent people from being put on the streets, we have the opportunity to do this today,” she said.

Rahman’s motion failed 9-5, with politicians citing a delay in implementation and the lack of data about the potential effectiveness of the additional measures.

Rahman, Anna Hopkins, Hadleigh McAlister, Sam Trosow, and Skylar Franke voted in support of the motion, while Steve Lehman was absent. All others voted against the motion.

But motion by Coun. David Ferreira to increase penalties for landlords was approved. The new fines are:

• Failing to apply for a licence: $2,000/month for three months, then doubled
• Failing to comply with licence conditions: $1,000
• Advertising or reoccupying the unit to be reoccupied: $5,000

The bylaw was approved in a unanimous vote. But it will likely come into effect in March because a business case justifying the hiring of six staff at a cost of $581,000 needs to be approved when the city drafts its 2025 budget early next year.

jmoulton@postmedia.com

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