Groups of tenants across Toronto are withholding rent payments

In the nearly 10 years since first moving into her one-bedroom Toronto apartment, Beverley Henry's rent has climbed from 900-dollars a month to more than 13-hundred dollars.

Henry, a senior living on a pension, says if rent keeps going up, she's going to have decide if she pays her rent on time, or buys food.

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Henry and a number of her neighbours at 33 King Street in Toronto's west end are among tenants at several buildings in the city who have gone on a rent strike to protest what they say is unfair treatment by their landlords.

Henry and some other residents of her building stopped paying rent in June, while tenants in nearby 22 John Street joined the rent strike this month.

READ MORE: More than 300 tenants at 2 Toronto apartment buildings have stopped paying rent

Tenants march down Weston Road in Toronto. (Allison Hurst/CTV News Toronto)

In the east Toronto neighbourhood of Thorncliffe Park, residents in three buildings have withheld rent since May, after their landlord proposed a five per cent increase for next year.

In Ontario, landlords are allowed to increase rent up to a threshold set by the government each year but the cap does not apply to rental units first occupied after November 15th, 2018.

Dream Unlimited Corp., which owns 33 King Street, says when it bought the building in 2021, it “inherited” a dispute between the striking tenants and the previous landlord over above-guideline increases for 2018, 2019 and 2021.

Michael Cooper, Dream Unlimited Corp.'s president and chief responsible officer, says the company is willing to negotiate a “significant discount” and create an “extended payment” plan for tenants who need support.

Dream Unlimited also owns 22 John Street, where it says 15 per cent of tenants haven't paid rent, but notes that the building is not subject to provincial rent guidelines because it was completed after 2018.

One resident at 22 John Street says he didn't know the building was not subject to provincial guidelines, saying a nine per cent rent increase was proposed for his unit this year, but he has decided to pay no more than the 2.5 per cent increase that's in line with the government guideline.

When asked about the nine per cent increase, Dream Unlimited said “inflation has been very challenging” and rents at the building remain lower than current market rates.