Residents from 250 Frederick Street rally against renovictions at Kitchener City Hall

Residents from 250 Frederick St. in Kitchener have been at odds with the building’s new owner for months.

Just days ago, a new wave of tenants received eviction notices. On Wednesday, the group took their concerns to city hall.

The group wants a new bylaw to prevent situations like the one they find themselves in now.

Some of the residents at the Frederick Street building have been there for more than 20 years, and now even more of them say they’re being asked to move out by the summer.

Gail Evans received one of the N-13 notices.

“What it said was, you’ve got to be out by the end of August,” she said.

Evans, who has lived in her apartment for seven years, is one of multiple tenants who received an N-13 notice this month.

“A lot of people, like myself, have nowhere to go, so it should be stopped. Where’s the empathy?” Evans asked.

It comes after months of tension between tenants and the new building owner. Some residents say they have been issued eviction notices, citing required renovations. Some allege they have been locked out of the parking garage and can only access it if they pay $250 per month.

“I have my walker, I have a degenerative disc disease and something else…my daughter has many issues and I mean, walking to find a place to park is a bit much,” explained 16-year resident Leslie Litwiller.

Residents’ frustrations were brought to Kitchener City Hall on Wednesday, with Waterloo Region ACORN also in attendance.

“We know they have a rental replacement bylaw that’s coming up,” said Acer Bonapart with Waterloo Region ACORN. “We think it could go further and expand into renoviction bylaw.”

They’re asking for a bylaw to be implemented to stop landlords from evicting tenants under the guise of major renovations in order to increase the rent for new tenants.

Tenantsaren’t alone in looking for answers.

“The owner is very elusive,” said Ward 10 councillor Stephanie Stretch. “So city staff and different councillors and the mayor have all been working to try to locate the owner.”

A rental replacement bylaw is expected to be presented to city council next month.

“Hopefully this bylaw is something that has some teeth and is really well equipped,” Stretch added. “I know we’ve looked at different examples, so out in British Columbia and locally in Hamilton, and really used those as case studies for what could work for us here in Kitchener.”

Until then, residents of 250 Frederick St. say they won’t be backing down.

“I don’t think when these people took over, they though that people in this building, who are seniors, that a lot of them would fight back but we’re fighting back,” Litwiller said.

CTV News reached out to the building’s superintendent for comment but did not receive a response by our deadline.

City staff said they’re working to get a better understanding of eviction and displacement rates in the city.

Owner tied to alleged renovictions in London, Hamilton

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

Tenants are sending their money to a numbered company in which Michael Klein is the sole director.

Records obtained by Waterloo Region ACORN shows Klein is also tied to buildings in London and Hamilton.

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

As with Frederick Street, tenants of the London property also sent 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 renovictions.

Rise of renovictions

Renovictions have gotten more attention recently due to skyrocketing housing costs.

On Jan. 17, Hamilton became the first Ontario municipality to implement an anti-renoviction bylaw.

Speaking to CTV News before the decision, Monica Ciriello, the director of licensing and bylaw services for the city, said it “would require all landlords city-wide to obtain a renovation license from the city prior to commencing any renovation work that requires an N-13 notice to be issued to a tenant.”

“We recognize, as a local government, we can’t prohibit a landlord from issuing an N-13, but we can use it as a starting point to obtain a municipal renovation license,” she added.