Pressure mounts for Ontario to extend rent controls to all tenants http://t.co/D6uPdxpRc1 via @torontostar
— Landlord Relief (@LandlordRelief) June 2, 2013
The above article from the Toronto Star is an example of:
1. Bad property management because it doesn’t respect the principle that tenant turnover is over costly to the landlord; and
2. The principle that the highest rent is not always the best rent;
3. An bad example of how to raise residential rents in Ontario
Furthermore, the landlord is publicly flaunting the fact that in Ontario, residential rental units put into service after November 1991 are not subject to rent control
The following excerpt from the article by Susan Pigg of the Toronto Star says it all:
The property management company for the Standard Lofts said via email that “we are operating according to the law” and stressed that “rents are raised to what the market will bear and decreased if rents are over market so as not to lose tenants.”
But Toronto city councillor Anthony Perruzza is so concerned about similar complaints from tenants in his renter-heavy North York ward, that this week he introduced a motion before executive committee urging the province to make all rental units — including investor-owned condos — subject to rent controls “to level the playing field” in the city’s tight rental market.
NDP MPP Jonah Schein has started an online petition and his party plans to introduce a bill next week aimed at ending what tenant advocates call “a two-tiered system of renters in Ontario” — those in older buildings where rent increases are limited to about 2.5 per cent this year, and those in apartments or rental condos occupied after November 1, 1991 where increases aren’t capped.
My predication: The law will be changed and this property management company will be used as an example of why it must be changed. Hey, I’m a landlord. But, I also recognize that successful property management requires that your tenants be happy.
Also, to be brutally honest here, is there really a reason why there should be two sets of laws for Ontario rental property? One set of laws for rentals units put into service prior to November 1991 and one set for those after?
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