More than 300 tenants at 2 Toronto apartment buildings have stopped paying rent

More than 300 tenants at two Toronto apartment buildings have stopped paying their rent.

More than 300 tenants at two apartment buildings in Toronto have been withholding their rental payments for weeks, claiming their landlord is failing to abide by rent control regulations.

On Saturday morning, roughly 100 tenants and union representatives rallied in front of 33 King Street in York-South Weston to bring awareness to the strike. The tenants marched from the buildings to the offices of both Local MPP, Michael Ford's office and Federal Housing Minister, Ahmed Husen's office.

"I [moved] into my bachelor at $500, it's now almost $1,000," Elizabeth Thompson, a tenant who is retired living on a pension, told CTV News Toronto.

"I'm making ends meet, that's all I can say, at the end of the month is the next month, and the next month,” Thompson said.

The York-South Weston Tenants Union told CTV News Toronto that, in total, 220 tenants from King Street and almost 100 from John Street have joined the strike. King Street started in June and John Street started earlier this month, they said.

"We've experienced rent increases up to 25 per cent in 2019," said Anthony Alao, who lives at John Street with his two-year-old and wife, "crazy, unfair rent increases that has been making us decide if we're going to be paying our rent on time or maybe if we're going to be having food on our table," he said.

Residents say along with the rent increases, there has been a loss of amenities.