Toronto Renters Forum

i am so sick of watching things get getting worse and worst everywhere, and the reason is always money!  How is it ok for us taxpeyers to pay $380 million for the upcoming soccer worldcup fiasco at the same time as the number of homeless people in parks has doubpled since a year ago?

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/no-surprise-outreach-organization-says-number-of-encampments-in-toronto-doubled-since-last-spring-1.6843770

The article says that the increase in homelessness was predictable.

Kozierok said the high cost of living along with inadequate social assistance is causing people to lose their home. She added that those who are struggling to make ends meet are finding themselves with no other option but to stay in an encampment as there aren’t shelter beds, a problem she said is exacerbated by the lack of a plan to support the influx of refugees in the GTA who are also seeking shelter.

“We’ve been predicting this for years,” Kozierok said.

And yet Doug Ford is willing to pay $650 million of taxpayer dollars to build a parking lot for his rich friend's new spa in Ontario Place!  https://www.blogto.com/city/2024/04/doug-ford-taxpayer-cost-ontario-place-spa/

Think of how many new affordable homes or homeless shelter spaces that money could fund.

These tenants are fighting their third above guideline in about three years!!  Now the tenants are fighting back!!

   https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tenant-dream-building-weston-rent-strike-1.6861377

In solidarity!!

This is just so typical of the LTB.  The adjudicators are so often biased (I heard that many of them are landlords themselves).

Keep up the good fight!

In Solidarity!!

NOW Magazine is reporting on an Akelius building where the residents had no water for months and months during the pandemic, and it all turned-out to be that their plumber has accidentally shut a valve that they shouldn't have:

As lockdown hit, Akelius tenants say cold water shortage lasted 96 days

Jojo here...   jus wanted to get the word out that thers some Akelius tenants meeting on facebook over here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/139585293238579/posts/557305924799845/?mibextid=HsNCOg

Come say hello!

Hi Markus,

I would be  very suspicious of that request.

Once you have signed your lease (which it sounds like you did years ago when you first moved in) your landlord cannot compel you to sign a new agreement, unless you are deliberately changing the details of your lease (like, if you are adding a new parking space, or storage locker, or something like that).  And in my experience, when a landlord wants new forms to be filled-out, then they are up to something. 

I mean, in your case this all could be an innocent information-gathering activity.

But do you have to sign those forms?  Are the forms asking for sensitive information (like your place of employment, salary, banking info)?  Do the forms say anything about giving the landlord the right to run additional credit-checks?  I would be very leery of providing that information, since you already have the apartment.

Lastly, depending upon the exact wording on the forms, could those rental application forms be construed to constitute a new agreement with the landlord, thus allowing them to change the terms of your leases, or to set a new monthly rent?

Be careful!

From CTVNews a couple of days ago:  Tenants with large corporate landlords more likely to face poor living conditions, survey suggests

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/tenants-with-large-corporate-landlords-more-likely-to-face-poor-living-conditions-survey-suggests-1.5992030

This article is reporting on a new report released by our friends at ACORN, and here's a direct link to their report:
Impact of financialization of housing on tenants: Findings from ACORN Survey 2022 (PDF)

This thought-provoking article poses an interesting question, why don't tenants demand letters of reference from their landlords?

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/here-s-why-more-tenants-should-request-reference-letters-from-landlords-1.5850299

“A good landlord has every reason to tell you [about] the previous tenants,” he said. "Landlords might want to have letters that attest to their fitness as landlords, and a good landlord would voluntarily want to do that.”