Ontario landlord eviction skyrockets by 85%: Rent skyrockets, tenants cling to it

According to Rentals. ca, rental prices in Canada have increased by 22% in the past two years. And those long-term tenants are limited by the Ontario government's rent increase limit, with a maximum annual increase of 2.5%. Many housing experts say this has led tenants to defend their units even more fiercely when facing eviction. Landlords are facing enormous financial pressure, with a surge of 85% in cases of eviction of tenants on the grounds of self occupation since 2020.

Chris Kostav and Shari Keyes are two long-term tenants. In the hot real estate market of Toronto, two tenants paid rent far below market value in a low rise building in East York.

Now, their landlord wants them to move out. According to the eviction notice, the landlord plans to move their family into these two apartments.

Retired electrician Kostav said, 'I think the only reason he asked me to leave was because he could charge higher rent, and he has lived in this single room unit for nearly 20 years.'.

The landlord has submitted two N12 eviction applications to the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Commission, namely for personal use eviction, stating that he needs to move his daughter into one unit and his parents into another unit.

Kostav and Keyes do not trust their landlord. They have all hired lawyers and fought back at the landlord and tenant committees.

In an email sent to CBC, their landlord Sofiene Bousselmi denied that the eviction was malicious and stated that it was indeed necessary to move her family in.

According to Rentals. ca, rental prices in Canada have increased by 22% in the past two years. Many housing experts say that this has led tenants to fight harder to defend their units when facing eviction.

Against the backdrop of the national housing crisis, Kostav and Keyes have become embroiled in a growing battle between landlords claiming to reclaim their rental properties and an increasing number of tenants refusing to move out.

For Kostav, the battle is still ongoing, and his next hearing at the Landlord and Tenant Committee is expected in early August. For Keyes, the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Commission ruled earlier this month that the landlord acted improperly in her eviction application and allowed her to temporarily stay in her unit.

For 56 year old Keyes, giving up her apartment means that her daughter and granddaughter may have to permanently leave Toronto, and may even be homeless.

Keyes said that rent is high everywhere now, and we know we cannot afford other places. We must fight because we have always been concerned about the possibility of homelessness.

As national rents continue to hit new highs - rising 22% in two years, according to Rentals. ca data, the national average rent for a one bedroom apartment is $1929- some Ontario tenants who have received N12 eviction notices say they have nowhere to go and will do their best to stay.

Tracking malicious expulsion

In other parts of the country, self use eviction also seems to be increasing.

The British Columbia government has just launched an online portal to help combat malicious eviction by landlords claiming to need their units.

Due to delays from the landlord and tenant committee, the dispute between Keyes and her landlord lasted for nearly two years. She said that this had a huge impact on her, her daughter, and granddaughter because they were worried about the future, living in boxes filled with boxes, and worried that they might have to leave.

Kostav's studio apartment rent is 600 yuan per month, but he said that based on the nearby rent increase, he believes the landlord wants to double or even triple the rent.