Council to debate renoviction bylaw after year-long review

Council will vote June 10 on whether to table a draft renoviction bylaw for public discussion, more than a year after directing staff to review the practice of illegally evicting tenants under the pretense of renovation.

Renoviction—evicting renters to renovate, then re-listing units at higher rent—prompted council's January 2025 motion. A draft was scheduled for the planning and housing committee on May 20, but staff postponed the review while examining amendments to Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Act through Bill 97 and Bill 60.

Those amendments, taking effect in July and September, strengthen tenant protections and enhance eviction requirements for renovations and repairs. City staff concluded the new provincial rules "substantially address the policy objectives" a municipal bylaw would achieve, and warned that a local licensing regime could create "overlapping regulatory requirements and administrative complexity."

But planning committee members argued they never saw the draft. "I am not here to debate the merits of a renoviction bylaw," said Councillor Ariel Troster, who introduced the original motion. "I'm here just to get it back on the table for us to actually have that conversation. Council voted 19 to four to direct them to do the work. Then they did the work, and they sent out a memo saying, 'Actually, we don't want to show it to you.' That is what the conversation is about today. Release the bylaw. Put it on the table for democratic debate."

If council votes to proceed, the draft will return to the planning and housing committee on July 8.