Some Toronto tenants embark on rent strike to protest increases

Beverley Henry, a senior citizen living on pension, paid $900 monthly rent when she first moved into her one-bedroom apartment in Toronto almost a decade ago but that amount has since increased to over $1,300.

Henry has revealed that she won’t be able to cope with any more rent increases in the future.

In a recent interview, she said: “If the rent keeps going up … I would have to decide: am I going to pay my rent on time or am I going to buy food?”

Henry and some of her neighbours at 33 King Street in Toronto’s west end are part of tenants at many buildings in Toronto who have gone on a rent strike to protest the unfair treatment by their landlords.

Henry and some other tenants in her building stopped paying rent in June. Tenants in a nearby building also joined the rent strike this month.

Residents in three buildings of Thorncliffe Park, a neighbourhood in east Toronto, withheld rent since May after their landlord proposed a five percent increase for next year.

Landlords in Ontario are allowed to increase rent within a threshold set by the government every year but the cap does not apply to apartments first occupied after Nov. 15, 2018. The rent increase guideline for 2024 was set at 2.5 percent, the same rate as for 2023.

Landlords seeking to increase rents above the provincial threshold can apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board for increases. They can cite reasons like renovations to better living conditions in the building.

According to Henry, the previous owner of her building has successfully applied for several increases.

She said: “Over the last five years, I have seen my rent increase three times higher than rent control. It’s a tactic that our landlord has used every year to avoid following rent control, and this is why we are striking.”

Dream Unlimited Corp., which owns the building at 33, King Street, said it “inherited” a dispute between the striking tenants and the previous landlord when the building was bought in 2021. It said the dispute is over increases for 2018, 2019 and 2021.

Michael Cooper, Dream Unlimited Corp.’s President and Chief Responsible Officer, said the company is willing to negotiate a “significant discount” and establish an “extended payment” plan for tenants that need support.

Cooper said: “We are accommodating and supporting our tenants as best we can as we resolve these AGIs.” He said about 12 percent of tenants at 33, King are on a rental strike.

Dream Unlimited owns a building at 22 John Street, where it said 15 percent of tenants have not paid rent, but noted that the building is not subject to provincial rent guidelines because it was completed after 2018.

Anthony Alao, a resident at 22 John Street, said he didn’t know the building was not subject to provincial guidelines.

According to him, nine percent rent increase was proposed for his apartment this year, but he has decided not to pay above the 2.5 per cent increase that’s in line with the government guideline.

Alao, who lives in a two-bedroom apartment with his family, said: “Their intention is to try to evict us out, so they could obviously replace us with someone who would pay much more, a lot more higher.

“We were not going to accept this.”

When asked about the nine percent increase, Dream Unlimited said “inflation has been very challenging” and rents at the building are below the current market rates.

According to Rentals.ca and Urbanation report, the average asking price for a rental unit in Canada was at a record $2,042 last month amid persistent interest rate hikes and population expansion.

Toronto ranks third, behind Vancouver and Burnaby, B.C., with the average one-bedroom listed for rent at $2,572.

Some weeks ago, residents from both Dream Unlimited properties with labour union members and tenant support organizations, protested to draw Canadians’ attention to the rent strikes.

Bruno Dobrusin, the rally organizer, said the protesters want Dream Unlimited to reach a fair deal with the tenants.

He said: “We are looking for the landlord to withdraw the pending above-guideline increases applications for 2019 and 2021 for 33 King and to respect rent control for 22 John.”

He said the strikes are an indication that a tenant movement is forming.

He said: “I think it is taking shape slowly. Now you have two rent strikes happening in two neighbourhoods of Toronto.”

Harendran Kumar, who lives at 71 Thorncliffe Park Drive, said many people living in three buildings in his residential area stopped paying rent after their landlord applied for increases for the next three years.

He stated further that the landlord is renovating the exterior of the building, the parking lot and vacant apartments and argued that current tenants won’t see improvements to their units.

He said: “They are expecting us to pay for their renovations. It is not right.”