Tenants opposed to above-guidance rent increase go on rent strike, withhold payments
Global News
Tenants at three apartment buildings in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park are withholding rent payments for a second month after the landlord proposed above guidance rent increases.
Thorncliffe Park has a large immigrant community. Some people, who have survived and escaped war-torn countries and are now tenants in a three-complex building, are fighting back against their landlord, who has proposed an above-guideline-rent increase, by going on a rent strike.
“The amount of money we’re withholding is quite a bit. I know this landlord is very powerful and big, but I think this will make a difference,” said Jawad Ukani, a tenant in one of three buildings.
The rent strike, which is now in its second month, has seen nearly 125 tenants organize to withhold payments from their landlord, who had proposed a rental increase of 4.94 to 5.5 per cent. The allowed rental increase for 2023 set by the provincial government is 2.5 percent.
Just last year, Starlight Investments, which owns and operates the apartment complex of 71, 75 and 79 Thorncliffe Park, had proposed a rent increase of 4.2 per cent, which was three per cent more than the guidance the province of Ontario laid out.
“It’s a lot of financial burdens, so if they keep on increasing like this, then that is the amount of money we can’t contribute to our children,” Ukani said.
Global News contacted Starlight Investments but has yet to receive a response to their inquiry.
The proposed rental increase was set to take place on May 1st, but tenants, in large numbers, decided not to give in to the property owner’s demand. Longtime tenants like Sonia Israel, who has lived in the same apartment for the past 31 years, said they’re looked at as a number on a spreadsheet and not as human beings needing homes.
“They are not acknowledging us because everything is money, money, money, money, and not caring about the tenants’ welfare,” she said.