Toronto landlord files to evict some tenants refusing to pay rent amid rent strike

The landlord of a Thorncliffe Park building where some tenants are on a rent strike has filed at the Landlord and Tenant Board to evict some of those who have been witholding payments. 

More than 100 tenants at the three-building apartment complex on Thorncliffe Park Drive have been on a rent strike to protest above guideline rent increases (AGI) that would retroactively begin on May 1 if approved.

The proposed increase varies from a 4.94 per cent to 5.5 per cent rise, according to copies of 2022 and 2023 notices shared with CBC Toronto by the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations. Last year, the proposed increase at these buildings was 4.2 per cent. 

The Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) has not yet approved the AGIs. If they are approved, tenants who had not been paying the increase since 2022 could see the hike applied to their rent retroactively, with the same to apply for those who did not agree to pay the AGI proposed last month.

Sameer Beyan and his parents are among those on strike. He says he was notified on Monday that the landlord has filed to evict them from their unit. He now has a hearing set for October at the Landlord and Tenant Board, but he says the notice hasn't scared him or his family.

"If we have to fight this longer, that means we have to fight this longer," he said. 

It's unclear how many tenants have received notice that the landlord has filed with the LTB to evict them, according to Philip Zigman, a tenant organizer who's been supporting the strike. He says those notices won't all come at the same time and have just begun to be delivered. 

Without approval, landlords in Ontario are only allowed to increase rent for most existing tenants according to the province's annual rent increase for inflation. This year that guideline is set at 2.5 per cent. AGIs allow landlords to tack on up to an additional three per cent per year for three years for capital expenditures, like major repairs or renovations. 

The guideline doesn't apply to units occupied for the first time after Nov. 15, 2018, vacant residential units, community housing, long-term care homes or commercial properties, according to a provincial news release outlining the 2023 cap.

Withholding rent can put tenancy at risk: landlord

The buildings are owned by Starlight Investments and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), which is a Crown corporation and one of Canada's largest pension investment managers.

"For PSP Investments to escalate in this way and move to evict tenants at the Landlord and Tenant Board rather than meet the very reasonable demands is completely unacceptable," Zigman says. 

PSP Investments directed CBC Toronto to Starlight for comment, saying Starlight handles day-to-day operations.

"[Withholding rent] for any reason other than financial distress will be viewed as a potential breach of our rental agreement and may put a resident's tenancy at risk," Danny Roth, a spokesperson for Starlight, said in an email. 

Why are renters on strike? 

The company says it is applying for above guideline rent increases to make "significant and necessary improvements to the structure and life safety systems at the buildings," Roth added. 

Beyan said he doesn't think the costs of those changes should be passed on to tenants like him. 

"We haven't felt any kind of improvement for us and that's why we don't approve [of this] AGI," he said. 

Harendran Kamalakumar is another tenant taking part in the strike. He has yet to receive notice of an eviction hearing, but expects one to come. 

He says he's taking part in the strike for his two children, whose extracurricular activities he may not be able to afford if their rent goes up. 

If they get evicted, he says his family wouldn't be able to afford the price of a new lease in the city. 

"I have no choice other than going to the shelter," Kamalakumar said.