250 Frederick Street ownership tied to alleged reno-victions in London, Hamilton

An investor with ties to apartment buildings across Ontario appears to be connected to 250 Frederick Street in Kitchener.

The building has been subject to allegations of illegal evictions and pressure tactics to try and force people out.

At the very least, tenants of 250 Frederick Street are sending their money to a numbered company in which Michael Klein is the sole director.

Records obtained by renters rights advocacy group ACORN shows Klein is also tied to buildings in London and Hamilton.

In London, soon after the Webster Street Apartments were sold to a new buyer, some tenants received N13 eviction notices.

As with Frederick Street, tenants of the London property also send their monthly rental cheques to the same numbered company directed by Klein.

In Hamilton, an apartment complex on Melvin Street has also been linked to Klein.

Again, tenants in those building have made claims of reno-victions.

Within the organization ACORN, the name Michael Klein is well known.

“Very well known, I would say pretty renowned,” said Jacquie Wells, a former tenant at 250 Frederick Street and current member of K-W ACORN.

Wells said Klein’s involvement set of red flag right away.

“When I first reached out to ACORN about the building being purchased, I told them that it was Michael Klein and they were very concerned,” said Wells.

Wells said the fact it is hard to determine who owns the building is by design.

“He hides behind numbered companies and he puts himself at arm's length and that is a strategy so that people can't kind of establish a pattern of behavior,” said Wells.

Putting the Pieces together

The listed owner of 250 Frederick Street is corporation called 250 Frederick Inc. it’s listed director is a person name Ludmila Karakulov, a search for information on Karakulov found very little information.

Tenants in both Frederick Street and Webster Street apartments were asked to complete a pre-authorized debit plan to 1524256 Ontario Limited.

A record search for 1524256 Ontario Limited show the company director as Michael Klein.

In Hamilton tenant’s received official letter from Torbolton LTD.

A record’s search shows Michael Klein is the director of TorBolton LTD.

According to ACORN, to help improve transparency they believe Ontario should create a landlord registry.

“So that landlords actually have to be publicly known who they are so people can find out who their landlords are on a publicly available landlord registry.”

CTV News reached out on numerous occasions to Michael Klein, including asking the management at 250 Frederick Street for contact information. No contact information has been provided and limited other contact information is publically available.