tenant board

Over a hundred tenants in Toronto apartment complex are refusing to pay rent

More than 100 tenants in a three-building apartment complex in Thorncliffe Park are refusing to pay rent and striking against their landlord in protest of above guideline rent increases (AGIs)

Dozens of tenants of 71, 75, and 79 Thorncliffe Park Drive in Toronto stopped paying rent on May 1 after they were given a notice of the rent increases, which ranged from 4.94 to 5.5 per cent, despite Ontario's rent increase guideline for 2023 being 2.5 per cent. 

PSP Investments, a Canadian crown corporation that manages pension funds for federal public service workers and others owns the buildings through its partner, Starlight Investments. Tenants participating in the strike are accusing the owners of beginning renovations without properly notifying residents of the accompanying rent increases. 

According to residents, the building owners previously sought a rent increase of 4.2 per cent in 2022. 

Thorncliffe Park is a densely-populated and multicultural community that's widely regarded as an "arrival city" for newcomers. Tenants —  some of whom have escaped war-torn countries to find a better life here in Canada — claim that the rent increases "will force them out of their homes." 

"Tenants are working together to fight the massive rent increases and defend their homes from those seeking to profit from displacement," a website dedicated to PSP displaced tenants reads.  

"In Ontario, above guideline increases (AGIs) allow landlords to transfer the costs of certain renovations and repairs on to tenants, resulting in rent increases of up to three per cent above the provincial rent increase guideline for three years in a row," the website continues. 

"It is unacceptable that multi-billion dollar organizations like Starlight Investments and PSP Investments would try to transfer the costs of these renovations on to existing tenants despite having the money to cover these expenses and invest in the maintenance of these buildings." 

The Landlord and Tenant Board have not officially decided on the above guideline increases in this case yet. 

Just last week, nearly 200 residents at 33 King Street in York South-Weston also decided to stop paying rent and strike against their corporate landlord after seeing their rents increase by "22 per cent in the last five years, despite living in a rent-controlled building." 

Lead photo by

75 Thorncliffe Park Drive


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