Following prolonged advocacy from renter groups and advocates across the city, Toronto City Council (nearly) unanimously approved a new bylaw on November 13, 2024, that would help address rising rates of renovictions. Renovictions can happen in a few ways. Sometimes a landlord will refuse to allow a renter to return to their unit after renovations are complete, even though the renter had indicated they wanted to return before they moved out for the renovations to be carried out. Other times, a landlord may illegally raise the rent for a renter who returns to their unit after a renovation, or they may simply not undertake major renovations after evicting renters.
The Rental Renovation Licence bylaw includes a number of key provisions that aim to protect renters and preserve affordability, while ensuring rental units are kept in a state of good repair. Under the new bylaw, landlords must:
- Apply for a Rental Renovation Licence within seven days of issuing a renter an N13 notice to end their tenancy.
- Obtain a building permit before applying for the Rental Renovation Licence.
- Obtain and submit a report from a qualified person identifying that the renovation or maintenance work is so extensive that the renter must leave the unit, and pay a Rental Renovation Licence fee of $700.00 per unit.
- Post a Tenant Information Notice to inform the renter of the licence application and to enable the renter to seek information about their rights.
- Complete a plan to provide renter(s) who choose to return to their units with temporary, comparable housing at similar rents, or provide monthly rent-gap payments (based on post-2015 average market rents) to cover the rent difference.
- Provide moving allowances to all renters.
- Provide renters with severance compensation where the renter is choosing not to return to the unit after the renovation or repair work is complete.
- Post the issued Rental Renovation Licence on the door of the unit.
The bylaw will come into effect on July 31, 2025, and additional funding will be made available through the Toronto Tenant Support Program in the interim period to support renters facing renovictions before the bylaw is in force.
The bylaw incorporates many of the recommendations that R2HTO and other advocates shared through the City’s consultation process over the summer. In particular, we are glad to see a strong focus on accommodation, compensation, and information for renters, as well as resources to support monitoring, evaluation, and accountability processes. It is also promising that the bylaw will cover multi-tenant homes (MTH), as MTH renters are some of the city’s most marginalized communities and the most vulnerable to displacement.
Leading up to the November 13, 2024 City Council meeting, R2HTO submitted a joint letter with WomanACT and deputed to the Planning and Housing Committee, outlining areas of support for the bylaw and opportunities for improvement, including:
- Ensuring Tenant Accommodation Plans account for diverse renter needs and clearly outline conditions for a renter’s return to the unit.
- Ensuring renters who are displaced due to emergency repairs or renovations have access to the same supports as other displaced renters.
- Closing loopholes by developing a fulsome, integrated monitoring and accountability framework.
- Addressing other types of formal and informal evictions, which could include developing a comprehensive rental housing licensing program.
The adoption of this bylaw is a significant win for renters across the city and marks an important step forward in the City’s commitment to advance the right to housing. R2HTO will be monitoring the implementation of the bylaw closely to ensure that it achieves its goals of protecting renters, preserving affordability, and ensuring rental buildings are well maintained.