London renoviction by-law greeted with skepticism by some low-income tenants it's meant to protect

Protesting for more than an hour in a pouring rain, members of tenants’ advocacy group London ACORN called on city council to strengthen a draft licensing by-law meant to discourage so-called ‘renovictions’.

“It's not going to stop them from sending tenants out onto the street!” shouted London ACORN's Jordan Smith. “We need real renoviction protections now!”

Specifically, Smith criticized the draft by-law for having insufficient penalties to discourage renovictions, and that landlords wouldn't be required to provide alternate accommodations or rent top-ups for displaced tenants during a renovation.

The term ‘renoviction’ describes the unethical use of N-13 Notices to evict a low-income tenant under the pretense of renovating their unit, when in fact the landlord wants to hike the rent for a new tenant.

On Tuesday, city council considered a draft licensing by-law that would:

• require landlords issuing an N-13 Notice to obtain a $600 Rental Unit Repair License from city hall
• require landlords obtain an expert (engineer/architect) opinion that the tenant can not remain in the unit during the renovation
• provide tenants receiving N-13 notices with an information package explaining their rights

Launching the new license would cost the city $330,000 to purchase a vehicle and hire three employees for administration and enforcement.

“To strengthen this bylaw, to make it have teeth, it needs to prevent people from being put on the streets,” said Councillor David Ferreira to council colleagues. “I think escalating levels of monetary penalties would be very effective. I’m calling it progressive deterrence."

Ferreira urged colleagues to hike the financial penalties recommended by staff from hundreds of dollars to a range between $1,000 and $5,000 for the most serious infractions.

Offenses could include not obtaining/renewing a license or placing a rental advertisement for a unit that is intended for re-occupation after the renovation.

Councillor Peter Cuddy rejected concerns that the higher penalties might be considered punitive by the courts.

“I think they're fine and they're not putative,” Cuddy said. “Really, they only apply to the rogue landlords, we don't have many of those. There's just a few. And our good landlords won't be affected by this.”

Council unanimously supported the higher fines.

Councillor Corrine Rahman then suggested referring the draft by-law back to city staff to add a requirement that displaced tenants receive alternate accommodation or rent top-ups from the landlord during the renovation.

Rahman argued, “To make it have teeth, it needs to prevent people from being put on the streets.”

Councillor Skylar Franke agreed, “It actually incentivizes the landlord to complete the renovations faster because they don’t want to be paying for somebody to be living somewhere else for a year if they can finish [the] renovations in six months.”

City staff said the amendment to the draft by-law would, in their opinion, be a substantial change justifying another public participation meeting.

“Every delay that we want to make today is going to mean more months in 2025 before protections are in place,” warned Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis.

Rahman’s referral failed on a 5 to 9 vote.

Ultimately, council approved the draft licensing by-law with the increased penalties, several suggesting that some protections now is better than continuing with no protections at all.

Mayor Josh Morgan directly addressed tenants and some council members who greeted the new licensing by-law with disappointment, “We have decided to take steps here. You may not be happy with how many we've taken, but we will continue to work with the community. We will continue to monitor how this plays out in other communities."

After 12 months, city staff will provide a progress report to council evaluating the effectiveness of the new Rental Unit Repair License.

The new renoviction by-law will be operational in March 2025.