{"id":37187,"date":"2025-11-13T14:29:34","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37187"},"modified":"2025-11-13T14:29:41","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:29:41","slug":"preventing-renovictions-could-be-tackled-in-future-aurora-bylaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/preventing-renovictions-could-be-tackled-in-future-aurora-bylaw\/","title":{"rendered":"Preventing \u201crenovictions\u201d could be tackled in future Aurora bylaw"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bylaws to prevent tenants from \u201crenovictions\u201d could soon be in the works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council this week will consider a motion from Ward 1 Councillor Ron Weese which would, if formally adopted at the end of this month, task municipal staff with drafting bylaws to \u201cprotect tenants from unlawful or necessary evictions due to renovations, repairs, or demolitions, while balancing the rights of landlords to maintain safe, healthy and habitable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAffordable housing is of great concern to the residents of Aurora,\u201d says Councillor Weese in his motion. \u201cRental housing is a major component of the affordable housing stock, and based on the 2024 Aurora Affordable Housing Action Plan, approximately 19 per cent of private households are rented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEviction by renovation (sometimes termed \u2018renoviction\u2019) is used by landlords to evict tenants under the guise of major renovations but, in reality, are used to remove low-rent-paying tenants to be able to do some cosmetic renovations with the goal of renting out the space at a higher level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The motion notes that \u201crenovictions\u201d have a negative impact on affordable housing stock and points to similar \u201cRenovation License and Relocation Bylaws\u201d being implemented in other Ontario municipalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to The Auroran ahead of this week\u2019s Committee of the Whole meeting, Councillor Weese says he\u2019s been \u201cconcerned about affordable rents for a long time\u201d both within Aurora and across Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been a couple of \u201cinstances\u201d of this taking place within Ward 1, he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are bylaws that have been put together in other communities and these bylaws provide stronger safeguards for tenants who might otherwise face eviction under questionable circumstances,\u201d he says. \u201cIt ensures landlords can\u2019t exploit renovation provisions in the Residential Tenancy Act to raise rents or to remove long-term tenants without genuine renovation needs. I think the benefit overall is that it\u2019s going to reduce involuntary displacement of people, maintains community stability, and will protect affordable housing stock.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going forward with a bylaw such as this won\u2019t be without its challenges as he says it will be a matter of ensuring landlords are protected in the process as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLandlords have property rights and they have a right to get a return on their investment, so maybe this will cause additional permit requirements and additional costs for landlords that will even increase the costs of rentals \u2013 particularly for\u2026renovations that need to be done. It could delay building improvements or reduce investment in old rental housing, so I am concerned about that as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are other issues around proof of the intent that a landlord has and some complexity of compliance as a bylaw. I\u2019ve spoken to our Bylaw people about this [and] have been working on it for maybe six months or so with them to see about the legality and the opportunities \u2013 and they\u2019re prepared to come forward with a report, and I was buoyed by that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a municipal responsibility that could very well be implemented here and being implemented properly. I have great faith that our Legal department and our Bylaw department will give a comprehensive report. When that comprehensive report comes back to Council, then we\u2019re going to see whether there\u2019s a real appetite to create the Bylaw and enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HAVE YOUR SAY \u2013 Should Aurora pursue new bylaws to prevent \u201crenovictions\u201d? Send your thoughts to brock@lpcmedia.ca.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bylaws to prevent tenants from \u201crenovictions\u201d could soon be in the works. Council this week will consider a motion from Ward 1 Councillor Ron Weese which would, if formally adopted at the end of this month, task municipal staff with drafting bylaws to \u201cprotect tenants from unlawful or necessary evictions due to renovations, repairs, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9FN","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-16 14:14:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37188,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37187\/revisions\/37188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}