London Ont.'s funny billboard guys take serious stand against renovictions

A pair of real estate brokers are backing their words with time and money, after committing to retain a tenant living in a deeply affordable apartment above their future office space.

Known for a humorous series of billboards on Wharncliffe Road in London Ont. featuring taglines like “You Could Do Worser,” Tristan Squire-Smith and Johnny Hewerdine get serious when talking about the man who lives on the second floor of a building they purchased to be the home of Coldwell Banker Beaver Realty Brokerage.

One of the realtor's infamous funny billboards is seen on December 12, 2024 (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)

Asking only to be identified as Harold, the 68-year-old has lived above the storefront in the Old East Village since 2008 and pays rent that’s less than half the market rate in London.

“It only made sense for us to buy a property in this community,” explains Hewerdine. “That meant not just investing in refurbishing a brick and mortar location [but] also investing in the people as well – like Harold.”

Their first step renovating the historic two-storey building was to move Harold onto the main floor and completely renovate his upstairs apartment including new plumbing, electrical, and drywall.

Renovations to a deeply affordable rental unit above the future home of Coldwell Banker Beaver Realty Brokerage (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)

Squire-Smith says evicting Harold from the only home he can afford was never a consideration, “There's a lot more to the value about someone than just the rent they pay.”

Harold admits when he first learned his apartment was being sold to new landlords he feared the worst – homelessness.

“What are you going to get for $1,000 a month? You can't even get student housing for that anymore,” he says.

The term ‘renoviction’ describes the unethical use of an N-13 Notice to evict a low-income tenant on the pretense of doing extensive renovations, only to instead hike the rent for a new tenant.

“It's not part of our values to do something like that, so when we took hold of the building we wanted to make sure that Harold was taking care of,” Hewerdine tells CTV News.

“In a small way, we're trying to give back to the community by making sure that it remains inclusive from a financial standpoint,” Squire-Smith adds.

But it hasn’t been easy.

City council has approved a new license to discourage landlords from renovicting low-income tenants, however, Squire-Smith believes the city should also do more to help landlords who are trying to do the right thing by retaining deeply affordable units.

Squire-Smith says navigating the building permit and development charge process at city hall led to significant delays and unexpected costs, “To say it's been a challenge is to put it very mildly.”

Tristan Squire-Smith and Johnny Hewerdine speak with CTV News about the choice to maintain affordable rent for the tenant at their new office space, Dec. 12, 2024 (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)

Retaining two bedrooms in the apartment would have required moving a dividing wall about 12-inches to meet the current minimum square footage.

Instead, the two bedrooms had to be merged into one.

Also, converting part of the main floor into future office space resulted in a Development Charge of almost $8,000.

Squire-Smith says it had to be paid up-front before the city would release building permits.

“Something the city could have easily done is to allow us to pay it gradually over a year,” he suggests.

However, as the extensive renovation nears completion, Hewerdine maintains that doing the right thing was ultimately worth it.

“I hope this inspires more people in the city to do some renovations like this and keep their tenants,” he says.

Coldwell Banker Beaver Realty Brokerage will open its new office at 992 Dundas Street early in the new year.