A group of Toronto tenants have been on a rent strike for a year and say there's no resolution in sight

Dozens of tenants in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park area have now been withholding their rent for one year, and it’s unclear when the dispute will end.

Dozens of Dozens of tenants of Toronto's Thorncliffe Park area have now been withholding their rent for one year, and it’s unclear when the dispute will end.

Last May, approximately 100 households at 71, 75, and 79 Thorncliffe Park Dr. launched a rent strike after they said that their landlord refused to withdraw applications for an above-guideline rent increase.

Starlight Investments and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), which co-own the buildings in question, confirmed to CP24.com that currently 86 tenants are withholding rent, adding that the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) has since ordered them to make their payments to the tribunal while discussions around the requested rent increase continue.

A number of tenants taking part in the rent strike have also since received a notice from the LTB advising them that the landlord has filed to evict them for non-payment of rent. Those eviction proceedings, however, appear to be at a standstill. Tenant organizer Phil Zigman, of the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations, told CP24.com that those affected are still waiting for their hearing to be scheduled.

“Our lives are in limbo. You can’t make a decision. People are worried about leaving on holidays because they might get evicted,” said Jawad Ukani, who has lived in a one-bedroom unit at 71 Thorncliffe with his wife and child since 2006.

“It’s constant stress.”