Proposed renoviction bylaw could prove costly for Aurora, caution staff

March 13, 2026 · 0 Comments

A proposal to bring forward a bylaw giving the Town of Aurora more authority on renovictions could prove costly, staff caution.

This week, Council will consider a recommendation from staff not to proceed with developing a bylaw protecting residents against renovictions.

Council tasked staff with looking into the issue last fall following a motion from Ward 1 Councillor Ron Weese, but they cite potential costs and potential changes to Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act as reasons to shelve the idea at a local level.

“Proposed amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, introduced through the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023, are intended to strengthen the authority of the Landlord and Tenant Board to address renovictions by enhancing notice requirements and reinforcing tenant protections,” says Alexander Wray, Aurora’s Manager of Bylaw Services, in a report set to come before Council at this week’s Committee of the Whole meeting. “If proclaimed in force, landlords issuing notices of termination for extensive repairs or renovations would be required to submit a report prepared by a qualified professional confirming that the proposed work is sufficiently extensive to require both a building permit and a vacant possession. Failure to meet this requirement would render the notice void.

“The amendments would also reinforce a tenant’s right of first refusal following renovations, requiring landlords to provide timely written updates to tenants who elect to return, including estimated completion dates, notice of any changes to those timelines, and confirmation when the unit is ready for re-occupancy. Tenants would be afforded a minimum of 60 days to re-occupy the unit once it is deemed ready, and rent would remain subject to applicable lawful rent controls.”

While Councillor Weese said he initially brought the motion forward due to a couple of real-world examples of renovictions within his ward, Wray’s report says renovictions are “not a prominent issue” in Aurora, noting a total of seven formal notices to terminate a tenancy based on the criteria for renovictions had been filed between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2025.

Should Council decide to forge ahead with a renoviction bylaw this month, Wray says establishing such mechanisms would require additional municipal staff and could impact the tax rate.

“At the time of preparing this report, only two Ontario municipalities – the City of Hamilton and the City of Toronto – have implemented renovation and relocation, or similar, bylaws intended to address renovictions,” says Wray. “To support enforcement of its licencing program, which came into effect on January 1, 2025, the City of Hamilton approved 25 new positions, including management and supervisory staff, clerical and legal support, outreach personnel, and municipal law enforcement officers. The City of Toronto has also adopted a renovation and relocation bylaw, which came into effect on July 31, 2025, and has identified the need for 14 additional positions, consisting of eight Toronto Building staff to manage inquiries and licensing functions, and six Building Inspectors to conduct inspections and investigations.

“In addition to Hamilton and Toronto, the feasibility of implementing renoviction-related bylaws has been reviewed by municipal councils in St. Catharines and Waterloo. In both cases, staff reports did not recommend implementation, citing considerations such as operational complexity, staffing and financial impacts, and the limited anticipated effectiveness relative to existing provincial enforcement mechanisms.

“The City of Mississauga is currently studying the issue of renovictions and related policy tools; however, no decision regarding implementation has been made at the time of preparing this report.”

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter