The Planning and Housing Committee approved a new by-law on July 8th to help protect tenants from bad-faith evictions for renovations and repairs.
The Rental Renovation Licence By-law would require landlords to obtain a licence from the City when seeking to evict tenants to renovate or repair a rental unit. It aims to prevent landlords from evicting tenants under the pretext of renovation or repairs, but with the goal of renting the unit to a new tenant at higher rent. Such bad-faith evictions tied to renovations or repairs are known as renovictions.
While the Province sets the rules for evictions through the Residential Tenancies Act, the City’s proposed licensing process encourages landlords to follow those rules. Under the proposed by-law:
- Landlords would need to obtain a building permit before they could issue an eviction notice.
- When issuing an eviction notice, landlords would need to provide affected tenants with a City-produced eviction education guide. The guide will help ensure tenants are informed about their rights through clear, easy-to-understand materials in multiple languages.
- Once the eviction notice is issued, the landlord would have seven days to apply to the City for a rental renovation licence.
To support both tenants and landlords, the City would not charge a licence fee. Keeping costs low encourages compliance with the by-law and provincial rules while reducing the risk of additional costs being passed on to tenants. Rather than charging all landlords a licence fee, the by-law would rely on enforcement measures to discourage bad-faith renovictions, including fines for non-compliance.
When tenants are displaced by renovictions and cannot return to their homes, they may face much higher rents. Encouraging compliance with provincial rules can help preserve affordable rental housing in Ottawa.
The new by-law would take effect on January 1, 2027, providing time to develop the licensing program and to produce landlord and tenant education materials, including the eviction education guide.