Tenant Resources in Ontario by Bob Levitt
Senaka K. Suriya
Date: Sun, 3 Aug 1997 11:20:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: hcmurray <hcmu...@ccs.carleton.ca>
Tenant Resources in Ontario
by
Bob Levitt
This text is meant as a resource for tenants in Ontario
and primarily the Metropolitan Toronto area. =20
I am not an executive member nor on the Board of any
organizations of any sort.
I am posting this to give tenants sources of information and
some basic information so that you can help yourselves.
(There is a listing of phone numbers you can call at the
end of this text.)
The details in this text are still valid . . . for now.
The present Ontario government has introduced the very=20
misleadingly named Tenant Protect Act, that takes away
most of the protections tenants have had for more than
two decades. Presumably in anticipation of the new Act,
it may be difficult to get some of the Ontario ministry
pamphlets, but they are supposed to continue to supply
them for as long as the existing acts are in effect, so
if you want them insist that they send you them! =20
The new Act repeals the Rent Control Act, the Rental=20
Housing Protection Act, Part IV of the Landlord and=20
Tenant Act (the portion that pertains to residential
tenancies and mobile home parks, but they left in force
those portions of the Act that pertain to tenant farmers,)
the Municipal Amendment Act (Vital Services,) the Land
Lease Statute Law Amendment Act and the Residents' Rights
Act. If you are upset about the changes you will likely
want more information from your community legal and
information clinic or tenants' association (a listing
is available at the end of this text). If you are upset
over the governments new Act, you should both write and
call your MPP and Premier Harris, and on letters be sure
to write "Personal and Confidential" on the envelope.
The Premier can be called at (416) 325-1941, FAX at
(416) 325-3745. His address is:
Premier Michael Harris
Room 281, Legislative Building,
Queen's Park,
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A1.
Housing is regulated by the province and municipalities.
Housing issues are regulated by the Ontario Ministry of
Housing, (primarily under the Rent Control Act and the
Landlord and Tenant Act,) and by your particular
municipality primarily under their Building's Inspections
and Health departments. Rent increases are the jurisdiction
of the province, and building standards are first the
jurisdiction of the municipality but can also be taken to
the province (to prevent a rent increase when a building is
is a state of disrepair and does not meet building and health
standards under an OPRI, an Order to Prevent a rent increase,
but this right is to be eliminated under the new Tenant
"Protection" Act).
The Ontario Ministry of Housing has many publications that
will not only inform you of your rights but also your
obligations as a tenant. It is a good idea to visit your
local Ministry office or call them to get free publications
such as:
A Guide to The Landlord and Tenant Act <booklet>
What is Maximum Rent? <booklet>
What is The Rent Registry? <1 page>
Rent Control and Tenants <booklet>
What Tenants Should Know About A Rent Increase Above Guideline
<1 page>
Maintenance and Repairs <booklet>
Illegal Rent and Illegal Charges <1 page>
Getting Your Money Back (Information for Tenants) <1 page>
The 1995 Rent Control Guideline <1 page>
Ontario Ministry of Housing, Rent Control Programs Offices where
you should be able to get these publications are:
CENTRAL REGION
Etobicoke - City of York Office
5233 Dundas St. W. 4th Floor
Tel: (416) 236-2681
Mississauga Office
4 Robert Speck Parkway, Suite 550
Tel: (905) 270-3280
Toll-free: Ask operator for Zenith 9-6000
North York
47 Sheppard Ave. E., 4th Floor
Tel: (416) 314-9550
Scarborough - East York Office
1200 Markham Road, Suite 415
Tel: (416) 314-8640
Toronto City Office
56 Wellesley St. W, 8th Floor
Tel: (416) 326-9800=20
SOUTHWESTERN REGION
Barrie Office
114 Worsley St, 5th Floor
Tel: (705) 737-2111
Toll-free: 1-800-461-2882
Hamilton Office
25 Main St. W, Suite 620
Tel: (905) 528-8701
Toll-free: 1-800-668-9565
Kitchener Office
30 Duke St. W, Suite 401
Tel: (519) 579-5790
Toll-free: 1-800-265-8926
London Office
240 Wharncliffe Rd. N, Suite 100
Tel: (519) 679-7270
Toll-free: 1-800-265-0937
Owen Sound Office
1077 Second Ave. East
Tel: (519) 376-3202
Toll-free: 1-800-265-3737
St. Catherines Office
43 Church St., Suite 505
Tel: (905) 684-6562
Toll-free: 1-800-263-4937
Windsor Office
880 Ouelliette Ave., Sute 302
Tel: (519) 253-3532
Toll-free: 1-800-265-6924
EASTERN REGION
Kingston Office
265 Ontario St., 1st Floor
Tel: (613) 548-6770
Toll-free: Ask operator for Zenith 9-6000
Oshawa Office
40 King St. W., Suite 700
Tel: (905) 723-8135
Toll-free: Ask operator for Zenith 9-6000
Ottawa Office
10 Rideau St., 3rd Floor
Tel: (613) 230-5114
Toll-free: Ask operator for Zenith 9-6000
Peterborough Office
139 George St. N., 1st Floor
Tel: (705) 743-9511
Toll-free: Ask operator for Zenith 9-6000
NORTHERN REGION
North Bay Office
189 Wyld Street
Tel: (705) 476-1231
Toll-free: Ask operator for Zenith 9-6000
Sudbury Office
128 Larch Street, 6th Floor
Tel: (705) 675-4373
Toll-free: Ask operator for Zenith 9-6000
Thunder Bay Office
540 West Arthur Street
Tel: (807) 475-1595
Toll-free: Ask operator for Zenith 9-6000
Timmins Office
111 Wilson Avenue
Tel: (705) 264-9555
Toll-free: Ask operator for Zenith 9-6000
GETTING REPAIRS DONE AND THE HEAT TURNED ON IN METROPOLITAN TORONTO
(Sorry I don't have this information for other regions so if
anybody wants to update this file with that information,=20
please do so. Outside of Metro Toronto you will have to look
in the blue section/government of your telephone directory
"White Pages" to get the appropriate number to call.)
- Contact your neighbours. They may have similar problems
If you act together you will be more effective.
- Call your landlord and tell them about the problem(s).
Ask when they will be fixed. Keep a written diary of the=20
dates of telephone calls and their subject as well as copies
of all letters you send or receive for future reference.
- Write a leter to the landlord asking for the repair to be
done. give the date you first told the landlord about the
problem. Put in the date you expect the repair to be done
by.
- If the repair is not done in reasonable time, call the local
government department that looks after your problem. (eg.
Buildings and Inspections Department and/or their Health
Department) Make an appointment with an inspector to inspect
your apartment (this is FREE).
If you do not get the service you expect, call your=20
alderperson/city councillor or the Mayor's office to help you.
Your local M.P.P.'s constituency office can also be of help.
- If the repair is still not done, contact a legal clinic or
lawyer. You may need to take your landlord to court, or take
other legal action to get the work done. =20
REMEMBER: Document everything you can. This documentation=20
will be necessary if you take your landlord to court, or if
you want to prove neglect to prevent an "above guideline"
rent increase, or to get the province to order a rent
rollback.
Examples of repair problems include: no heat, no water,
cockroaches, mice, noise-problems and dirty conditions.
EAST YORK
Tenants must have heat: Sept. 15 to May 31 20=F8C/68=F8F
Property Standards Department -- 461-9451 (ext. 339)
Health Unit -------------------- 461-8136
Emergencies (after hours) ------ 461-8136
ETOBICOKE
Tenants must have heat: Sept. 15 to June 15 20=F8C/68=F8F
Property Standards Department -- 394-8002
Noise By-law ------------------- 394-8363
Health Department Swithboard --- 394-8000
Health Inspections ------------- 394-8272
Health (Emergencies after hours) 394-8615
NORTH YORK
Tenants must have heat: Sept. 15 to May 31 20=F8C/68=F8F
Property Standards Department -- 224-6043
Health Department -------------- 224-6315
Emergencies (after hours) ------ 224-6433
SCARBOROUGH
Tenants must have heat: Sept. 15 to May 31 20=F8C/68=F8F
Property Standards Department -- 396-7071
Health Inspections ------------- 396-7431
Emergencies (after hours) ------ 396-4808
TORONTO
Tenants must have heat: Sept. 15to June 1 21=F8C/70=F8F
Buildings Inspections Department
East ---------------------- 392-0827
North --------------------- 392-6940
West ---------------------- 392-0855
Central ------------------- 392-7559
If you don't know your ward 392-7501
Emergencies (after hours) - 392-7149
Noise by-law -------------- 392-0791
Health Department -------------- 392-7401
Health (emergencies after hours) 392-7149
YORK
Tenants musthave heat: Sept. 15 to June 15 21=F8C/70=F8F
Property Standards Department -- 394-2534
Health Department -------------- 394-2436
Emergencies (after hours) ------ 394-2630
COMMUNITY LEGAL AND INFORMATION CLINICS
In addition to assisting you with specific problems these
offices will have information pamphlets which are very
informative on tenant and other issues. Like the
Ministry of Housing pamphlets, they are good resources
for you to obtain, read, and keep for reference and they
are free.
Some tenant-specific pamphlets you should try to get
include:
Privacy and Your Rights=20
Repairs and Maintenance
Moving: Assigning and Subletting
Pets
Rent Increases
Ontario's Rent Registry
Eviction
Bloor Information and Legal Sevices
1072 Dovercourt Road
Toronto
(416) 531-7376
Downsview Community Legal Services
520 Wilson Heights Blvd.
North York
(416) 635-8388
East Toronto Community Legal Services
785 Queen Street East
Toronto
(416) 461-8102
Flemingdon Community Legal Services
(Don Mills/East York area)
10 Gateway Blvd.
(416) 424-1965
Jane-Finch Community Legal Services
1315 Finch Ave. W., Suite 409
(416) 398-0677
Kensington-Bellwoods Community Legal Services
489 College Street, Suite 205
(416) 924-4244
Mississauga Community Legal Service
130 Dundas Street East
Mississauga
(905) 896-2050
Parkdale Community Legal Services
165 Dufferin Street
Toronto
(416) 531-2411
Scarborough Community Legal Services
695 Markham Road
Scarborough
(416) 438-7182
York Community Services
1651 Keele Street
(416) 653-5400
If you are not in one of these areas and can't find your
community legal aid clinic in the telephone book, your
municipal, provincial and federal representative's office
which is in the phone book can give you the telephone
number for the closest legal aid clinics.
TENANT ORGANIZATIONS
Remember the only rights you have are the rights you are
informed about and fight for.
There are tenants' organizations that not only help to
inform you, they also help you to organize yourselves, and
they lobby for tenant rights with our governments. They
lobby with the governments to keep rents at reasonable
affordable levels, and so deserve your support.
Most of the information is available and should first
be sought from the Ontario Ministry of Housing and from
your local legal and information clinics, but if you
are having difficulty in obtaining this information=20
these groups can get it for you too. Additionally
they have newsletters for members that inform you
about general and new issues for tenants, and they
will help your organize your own building associations
to get proper maintenance, and to fight against rent
increases.
Landlords have their own lobbying organizations to try=20
to convince the various levels of governments to loosen
building and health standards and to deregulate rents.
The following organizations represent the voices of TENANTS
in government hearings and commissions. Support them
and you are supporting yourself.
EAST YORK
East York Tenants' Alliance
(416) 429-4250
HAMILTON REGION
Hamilton Area Coalition of Tenants' Association.
(905) 527-5574
METRO TORONTO AREA
FMTA/CSTR - Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations
Coalition to Save Tenants' Rights
(416) 921-9494
OTTAWA
Federation of Ottawa-Carleton Tenants' Association
(613) 594-5429
PARKDALE (A Toronto area community)
Parkdale Tenants' Association
(416) 760-5383
Additional resouces may be found in your local telephone book
and the blue section (government) of your "White Pages".
-- end of forwarded message --
---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
---
G.D. Kipling
POB/CP 56032
Ottawa (CANADA) - K1R 7Z1
Tel: (613) 241-2082
Internet: gdki...@ccs.carleton.ca
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
--
============ Senaka K. Suriya, bu...@freenet.toronto.on.ca =============
The purpose of wisdom is freedom, the freedom to be free within oneself.
========================================================================
rob...@maloca.com
In article <EED119.82....@torfree.net>,
bu...@torfree.net (Senaka K. Suriya) wrote:
>
> Date: Sun, 3 Aug 1997 11:20:15 -0400 (EDT)
> From: hcmurray <hcmu...@ccs.carleton.ca>
>
> Tenant Resources in Ontario
> by
> Bob Levitt
>
> This text is meant as a resource for tenants in Ontario
> and primarily the Metropolitan Toronto area. =20
>
> I am not an executive member nor on the Board of any
> organizations of any sort.
>
> I am posting this to give tenants sources of information and
> some basic information so that you can help yourselves.
>
I see you are now getting some of your socialist buddies to spam
the net on groups such as tor.news that are meant for internet
newgroup information only related to the "tor." hierarchy.
People know that you are a liar as have been proven by many people
on the net including myself, Jack Plant, Duke and Brad Aisa.
I will be informing the Freenet of how you got your buddie to
spam groups such as tor.news and torfree.publicity.
You seem to think that if you repeat your lies often enough and get
your friends or maybe they are just aliases to repeat your lies that
naive people on the net will actually believe your fabrications.
>
You have been on the board of some of the most radical groups around.
>
And you are not posting information to inform people you are posting
propaganda to misinform readers.
-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
bob lightbody
Bob Levitt wrote:
>
> Toronto Star - Wednesday, August 6, 1997
>
> Tenant bill under fire over power to landlords
> People evicted face loss of possessions, lawyer says
>
> By Greg Crone
> Southamstar Network
>
> A proposed law that would scrap the current rent control system in
> Ontario will also give landlords extraordinary new powers to seize,
> sell, or even throw away the property of tenants, a critic says.
>
> Lawyer Kenneth Hale of the Tenants' Advocacy Group, a coalition of
> lawyers who represent tenants, said people who are evicted from their
> apartments are usually already in dire financial circumstances, but
> now may face the possible loss of all of their possessions.
>
> ``These provisions legalize the theft of property by unscrupulous
> landlords,'' Hale told a legislative committee yesterday.
>
> ``They are cruel and unnecessary treatment of people who have lost
> their homes.''
>
> Bill 96, the Tenants' Protection Act, would scrap the Rent Control
> Act, ending the current rent-control system.
>
> Landlords would be able to charge as much rent as they want on
> apartments as they become vacant. The controls would kick in again,
> based on the new rent, once an apartment was occupied. Tenants who
> do not move from their apartments would continue to be protected by
> rent control.
>
> Bill 96 also contains many sections that will violate tenants' civil
> rights and privacy but so far have escaped public attention, Hale said.
> For example:
>
>
I read some of the stuff seen here and other places(newspapers, etc.)
and I wonder what world some of the respondents are from. Mr. Levitt, I
don't necessarily speak of you or your posting that I am replying to
here.
I am a landlord. I don't think I am too bad a guy. I don't really agree
with too much that the Harris government says. I am not a welfare
basher. I think that a lot of this law goes way beyond what is fair. The
law should be fair to both the landlord AND the tenant. I believe it is
currently far too one-sided in favor of the tenant. I don't believe the
solution is to give the landlord a huge stick. Give him some rights,
though.
When a tenant tells me to go ahead and take him to court for the rent he
owes me- that he will just laugh at me and the judge can do nothing
about it because he is on welfare I say something is wrong. There are
many things I as a landlord should not be able to do to a tenant but
there are things a tenant should not be able to do to a landlord. Not
paying the rent is one of them. I understand that lots of people are
going through tough times. I may be a landlord but I am having trouble
too. I certainley cannot go into the bank and laugh at them for even one
month. They will take court action against me and I cannot get a free
lawyer. I would not be one to throw a person out when they are trying
but when they laugh at me and seem to think that they can stay
forever(?) without paying I have to say goodbye. It is fair that I be
able to confiscate belongings as long as I have gone to court and got a
judgement. The judges don't rule in favor of the landlord unless they
have a reason.
I guess I have a lot more to say but that is enough for now. I just
think that I am not a bad landlord because I expect to get my rent.