Stay and fight or take the cash and go? Eviction notices put London tenants on edge

For Randall Miller, it's impossible to know what's the right move to make in the face of an eviction threat. 

On one hand, the new owner of the apartment building where Miller has rented with his wife for eight years is offering him $5,000 if they leave by the end of the month. 

Miller works as a security guard at the new Amazon logistics plant near St. Thomas. He makes little more than minimum wage and his wife Karen cleans houses. 

They pay about $925 a month for a one-bedroom apartment at 1280 Webster St., one of two adjacent buildings where some tenants began to receive letters last week that a renters' advocacy group and a local MPP have called threatening and misleading. The letters tell tenants their leases are being cancelled and offer them money to vacate their apartments.

Tenants who've spoken to CBC News, including many on disability, pensions and other fixed incomes, are worried they'll lose their apartments and be unable to afford anything at current market rates.

Amid the hoopla, Randall Miller just wants to know he'll have a place he can afford, either at Webster Street or another apartment. A flyer being distributed in the building by the tenants advocacy group ACORN advises tenants to stand their ground and fight. But Miller said it's hard to know if that's the best move.

"We went and checked out an apartment today, they wanted $1,575 a month for a one-bedroom plus $1,600 for a last payment, so we don't know what we're going to do," he said. 

Miller wants the building's new owners to work with tenants, rather than threaten them with eviction. 

"They're going about this the wrong way, in bad faith, that's how I feel," he said. "Karen and I are very good tenants. Always pay our rent." 

CBC News has so far received no response to calls for comment from the building's new owner, a company incorporated last fall as Webster Apartments Inc. A name, Michael Klein, is listed as a director of the corporation, which has a Toronto mailing address. 

On Thursday, representatives from the company were on site, meeting with tenants. A man who would only identify himself as "Raoul" would not comment about the eviction notices. He ordered a CBC News reporter interviewing tenants off the property and threatened to call police.

On Friday, ACORN and local MPP Teresa Armstrong are planning to meet with tenants at the building and speak to them about their options in the face of the eviction threat.

Meanwhile, Randall Miller says he's weighing his options and reaching out for legal advice. 

"We're at this point now where we don't know what to do or where to go," he said.