Rent Strike: Market and Tenants

rent strike: In a recent news release, a spokesperson for the group said that the landlord of three of the six buildings has begun issuing eviction notices to the striking tenants because they did not pay their May rent, according to Rabble. The background to this rent strike is an increasingly problematic rental market in Toronto. The tenants are protesting proposed rent increases as well as what they claim are serious maintenance issues in their units. As property values in Toronto increase, so does the market rate for rental units. This creates incentive for landlords to get their long standing tenants out so they can rent the unit to a new tenant at a much higher rate given the increase in market rates. The Ontario Residential Tenancies Act RTA contains rent control provisions that limit the percentage by which a landlord can increase the rent for existing tenants but not when the unit turns over and a new tenant moves in -- at that point the landlord can raise the rent for the unit without limit. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.