Staff recommend Ottawa delay study of anti-renoviction bylaw

A motion is coming to planning and housing committee on April 24 for the city to explore an anti-renoviction bylaw on Saturday, April 20, 2024 (Katelyn Wilson/CTV News).

City of Ottawa staff are recommending the city temporarily shelve plans for an anti-renoviction bylaw to allow time to monitor new bylaws in other Ontario cities and review provincial legislation to address bad faith evictions.

The planning and housing committee approved a motion form Coun. Ariel Troster last April to direct staff to study the possibility of an anti-renoviction bylaw, including cost estimates and possible enforcement for any new law. A renoviction is when a landlord clears out a tenant to renovate, demolish or convert the unit to another use.

In a report for the committee meeting on Jan. 15, Emergency and Protective Services general manager Ryan Perrault says staff do not recommend proceeding with a review due to the high costs of the study, and wanting to wait to study other municipal and provincial laws.

"Staff’s feasibility assessment does not support proceeding with a bylaw until staff have had the opportunity to evaluate the efficacy of the various municipal frameworks with a minimum of one year of data, in order to learn from their experience and to resolve any conflicts arising from the amended provincial framework," Perrault writes.

Perrault notes that while Hamilton, Toronto and London have adopted new bylaws to address evictions due to renovations, those bylaws have not been implemented.  Hamilton's Renovation License and Relocation Bylaw to regulate repairs and renovations in rental units went into force on Jan. 1, 2025, while Toronto's new rental renovation license bylaw will come into effect on July 31, 2025.

Perrault recommends waiting at least a year to learn from other municipalities.

"This would allow for an analysis of whether greater scrutiny and enforcement of evictions for renovation may result in increased applications by landlords for evictions for personal use, limiting the effectiveness of programs that solely address renovictions," Perrault writes. "It would also be prudent to understand if the cost and conditions for landlords to obtain a renovation license could stifle necessary renovations and redevelopment, adversely impacting the quality, availability, and affordability of rental housing."

The Ontario government's new Ontario Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act 2023 makes amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act to address bad faith evictions. Perrault says the bylaw would cover the same issues that would be addressed in an Ottawa municipal renovictions bylaw; however, those amendments have not been proclaimed into law.

"Once in force, any future bylaw may need to be amended in order to comply with the legislation to address potential conflicts or duplication," Perrault notes.

"Furthermore, staff note that landlord and tenant relations are a matter of provincial jurisdiction and disputes regarding evictions (including those that require vacant possession for the purposes of renovations) and rent are the sole jurisdiction of the Landlord Tenant Board (Tribunals Ontario). As a result, these bylaws are novel and the scope of a municipality’s power to regulate in this area remains untested in Ontario."

Perrault adds there is currently no "internal capacity" to undertake a review and develop an anti-renovictions bylaw in Ottawa, adding a "significant budget" would be required for the work.

The city report says Hamilton is anticipating the cost of implementing an anti-renovictions bylaw to be $942,850 a year, including eight new full-time staff members.

The City of Ottawa has seen an increase in eviction notices handed out to tenants between 2010 and 2023, including a 29 per cent increase in N12 applications and a 107 per cent increase in N13 applications. There were 505 N12 notices or applications in Ottawa in 2023, and 104 N13 notices.

An N13 form is a notice to end your tenancy because the landlord wants to demolish the rental unit, repair it or convert it to another use, while N12 is a notice to end your tenancy because the landlord, purchaser or a family member requires the rental unit.

Perrault says if council decides to proceed with a full bylaw review, a "significant budget is needed" and it will take 12 months to research, consult and draft regulations.

Staff suggested Ottawa would need to hire 12-15 new employees and it would cost $1.8 million to $2.2 million to implement the bylaw.