Landlords lying to tenants? MPP says that should be illegal

Jonathan Sanderson knows what it means to be bullied. 

As a child he was diagnosed with cancer and treating it required radiation that's left him with cognitive impairments. Now 43 and collecting Ontario Disability Support Payments, Sanderson has lived in his apartment at 1270 Webster St. in the Huron Heighs neighbourhood for 23 years. 

He is one of a handful of tenants of two seven-storey buildings who received a letter last week from the building's new owner. 

You can read the letter in the photo at the bottom of this story. It's been described by the tenants group ACORN as threatening and riddled with lies about tenants' legal rights in cases where the landlord wants them to leave for renovations. 

It says tenants must leave so the work can be done and says the landlord "has no choice" but to terminate their leases effective Aug. 31. 

Now that he's taken the time to inform himself about what the actual rules are, Sanderson is starting to see the letter for what it is: An attempt by the strong to bully the weak. 

"I'm a guy but I was pretty much crying because you don't expect that after you've lived somewhere for 23 years," he said. "I always pay my rent. I've never done anything wrong. I'm a good tenant. I'm quiet. I keep to myself."

In London's red-hot rental market Sanderson's rent, at $780, is well below market value. If the renovation becomes a renoviction, Sanderson wouldn't be able to afford anything similar at market rates which are well more than double what he pays now. 

On ODSP, he collects less than $1,300 a month and says he can't afford more.

"They're counting on me leaving and not coming back and I don't really have anywhere to go," he said. 

By law, landlords who need tenants to leave are required to give them first right of refusal to return to the apartment after the work is done. Tenants have other rights in the process that are not spelled out in the landlord's letter. 

The building's owner, identified only as Webster Apartments Inc. in the letter, has not responded to requests from CBC News for comment. 

MPP wants rules against landlords lying

London-Fanshawe MPP Teresa Armstrong said landlords shouldn't be allowed to cajole tenants with false information. It's part of a package of reforms the NDP is proposing in a private members bill to reform the Residential Tenancies Act. 

"If a landlord is going to write a letter, it should be legal information," said Armstrong. "And not a letter to coerce tenants to leave."  

Other changes the NDP is proposing:

• Rules that would empower the province's Rental Housing Enforcement Unit to pro-actively audit evictions to ensure landlords are following the rules. Right now, they only respond to complaints. 
• A requirement that the province provide regular reports on the number and type of evictions being executed so trends and potential abuse can be flagged early. 

CBC News requested an interview with Housing Minister Steve Clark. A spokesperson in his office said he is not available for an interview.

In a statement sent to CBC News, Clark's office spelled out the rights of tenants in situations  where a landlord wants them to leave for renovations: That the tenant has the right to return to the unit if they request it in writing from the landlord. The statement also says the province wants to double fines for violating the Residential Tenancies Act to $100,000 for individuals and $500,000 for corporations. 

Still, standing up to mass evictions doesn't always work out for the tenants.

Last year CBC news reported on mass evictions at a housing complex on Kind Edward Avenue in south London. The RHEU looked into the evictions, but found none were done in bad faith.

It's a determination that Armstrong said "was surprising." 

The move to evict tenants at Webster Street comes in a week when Ontario's Ombudsman found the tribunal that adjudicates landlord-tenant disputes is "fundamentally failing" due in part to a massive case backlog.

Sanderson said he has no choice but to fight the move to evict him. 

"It seems like the world is always throwing challenges at me, I usually make it through somehow but this is a pretty big one," he said.