When Lorelie Borromeo was told her rent was going up by $200 a month, she knew her rent-controlled building wouldn’t allow the increase. Shortly after the landlord tried to raise her rent, she received an eviction notice (N12) saying she would have to leave so her landlord’s family members could move in. Borromeo was concerned that it wasn’t true and suspected that the owner wanted to move out to rent the unit to someone else at a higher price. “I do not agree with this notice that your family is moving and I would prefer to take it to court to decide the outcome,” Borromeo said, eventually deciding to take her case to the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB). Borromeo said she did her homework before moving in and ensured she was moving into a building built before 2018, meaning her landlord would have to comply with the provincial rent increase guideline of 1.2 per cent hundred every twelve months. In her case, it meant the landlord could raise the rent by $37 a month. “When I was looking for a unit, I was looking for a rent-controlled unit so I could avoid unexpected increases,” he said. About 1.6 million people rent in Ontario, and as the real estate market cools and interest rates rise, more people are looking to rent, in turn driving rental prices up. Geordie Dent, Executive Director at the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations, a tenant advocacy group, said some landlords try to evict tenants either by saying a family member needs the unit to live in or they need to renovate it – a term known as “renovation”. “This is extremely common right now in the city of Toronto. You see a massive number of what we call fraudulent evictions,” Dent said. Dent said in rent-controlled buildings, a landlord can only raise the rent under provincial guidelines one more time. However, if the tenant moves out, they can increase the rent between tenants as much as they want. “A lot of landlords are committing fraud right now and cheating tenants,” Dent said. “There’s a real incentive for them to do that, because if they can push you out, they can raise the rent.” Ontario buildings constructed after November 2018 are not subject to rent control and may be subject to increases higher than the 1.2 per cent guideline. Earlier this year, CTV News Toronto interviewed a couple who were shocked when their rent was allowed to go up by $500 a month because their building was not covered by rent controls. As for Borromeo, she continues to pay her rent every month and said she would agree to any LTB regulation in her case. “It’s not just the money, it’s the beginning of the thing. So whatever the outcome is, I’m happy to go with it as long as everyone follows the rules,” he said. Ontario’s tenant landlord board still has a serious backlog with many hearings running months behind schedule. Rents will continue to rise next year as the province has already approved the rent increase guideline for 2023 – 2.5 per cent.
