If your landlord is trying to get you to move out so they can renovate or they've recently applied for an above guideline rent increase, there's now a user-generated website that allows Toronto tenants to anonymously report their landlords.
RenovictionsTO, which is a volunteer-run project, seeks to document these unfair practices and to give tenants the tools and information they need to organize and fight back against their landlords.
The main focus of the website is to have tenants report renovictions, which is when a landlord evicts a tenant by claiming they will complete major renovations and then violate a tenant's right to return.
The website also tracks above guideline increases, which allow landlords to transfer the costs of certain repairs onto tenants regardless of their existing profit margins, their own failure to maintain their buildings, or whether the repairs are needed. According to RenovictionsTO, landlords engage in these practices to drive up their profits, often displacing longstanding tenants with deep ties to their community, many of whom are vulnerable.
READ: Premier Doug Ford Suspends all Evictions as COVID-19 Pandemic Continues
The interactive map displays renovictions and AGIs throughout the city and lets users locate buildings in their neighbourhood facing a renoviction or an AGI.
RenovictionsTO also has a tracker that offers a different way to view the site data and lets users search by the landlord by name and find reports associated with them.
“As we analyze our landlord data we'll work to make it easier for tenants to find out if their landlord has been renovicting people or applying for [above-guideline increases] and to locate other buildings owned by their landlord,” the website states.
To report your own case, all you have to do is fill out the online form and list the type of issue and address, as well as include any additional information, such as the landlord’s name, the number of units in the building, the date the issue began, any other actions by the landlord, and any actions completed by tenants, including if you have a case number from the Landlord and Tenant Board.
