TORONTO — New laws governing rentals passed by the Ford government put too much power in the hands of corporate landlords, a Thunder Bay area MPP says.
The majority Progressive Conservatives passed the controversial Bill 60, or the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, at Queen’s Park on Monday. The tenancy reform bill makes a number of changes to the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act.
Many of those put renters, particularly those who have corporate landlords, in a much more precarious position, New Democrat Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois told Newswatch, adding that there were very loud protests in the legislature’s public gallery when the bill was passed.
“A lot of people were in the galleries who feel very strongly that Bill 60 — the tenant portions of that bill — are a direct attack on housing security, that it will result in many people (being) kicked out,” she said. “It’ll be easy to kick people out as, particularly with corporate landlords, (they now) have many tools for increasing rent now — even more than before.”
“A lot of people are going to wind up being homeless and it’s quite terrifying for people.”
Vaugeois said the verbal jeering came in multiple waves; in total, she said it took about 20 minutes for officials to clear the gallery of protesters.
“I think that tells you how serious this issue is and how scared people are about the effects of Bill 60.”
Among the changes, the new laws allow landlords to apply for a hearing to evict a tenant after seven days of rent arrears, down from the current 14 days; the appeals period has also been halved to 15 days from 30. Renters also can no longer raise complaints about their landlords at Landlord and Tenant Board rent arrears hearings, unless they pay a prescribed amount of those arrears, Vaugeois said.
“Also, if somebody decides to kick you out because they say that they’re going to move in, there used to be compensation required — so, no compensation is (now) payable for a landlord’s own-use eviction if a tenant is given at least 120 days’ notice,” she said.
“In other words, it’s become easier for a landlord to say ‘hey, I’m going to move back in’ or ‘I’m going to move my son back in,’ and there’s really no consequences and then no requirement to actually prove that that’s the case.”
Progressive Conservative Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland wasn’t available for an interview with Newswatch following the bill’s passage, but said in an emailed statement the new law “restores balance and rebuilds confidence in Ontario’s rental housing market.”
The new rules do so, he said, “by protecting responsible tenants that fulfill their responsibilities in their lease agreement while ensuring accountability for those who repeatedly abuse the system and create backlogs at the Landlord and Tenant Board.”
Vaugeois argued that a lack of staffing at the board, not delays caused by tenants, is the main cause of those backlogs.
The bill “also ensures families who depend on rental income are able to pay their mortgages, property taxes and utility bills that keeps more rental homes available — protecting the long-term stability of Ontario’s rental housing supply,” Holland’s statement said, adding that tenants are protected due to a doubling of maximum fines for landlords and holding rent increase guidelines below inflation.
Vaugeois said halving the time one can be in arrears before being subject to an eviction notice application is particularly dangerous to those on fixed incomes.
“Let’s say you are on social assistance and your check is late,” she said. “In the meantime, you don’t have any revenue.”
“It just puts the power all on one side without any backstops for the tenants.”
Vaugeois said there are “bad actors” among both tenants and landlords, but the new rules are “only addressing it on one side.”
The NDP also tabled an opposition motion on Monday for the government to rescind the bill that Vaugeois said had the support of the Liberals and Greens, but it was ultimately defeated.
