A group of tenants in a Preston apartment building are banding together to support each other after recently receiving notices to vacate their apartments for renovations.
They're also hoping for stronger protections from the city and region to guarantee their housing at the rent they're paying now.
Nearly every resident who lived at 94 Beck St. received a notice that "significant renovations" would need to occur and the tenants would have to leave for six to nine months. They could then return to their units, but at rent prices that far exceed what they're paying now.
This didn't sit well with the tenants who have decided to refuse orders to leave and remain in their units.
"This is bullshit, I've been here for 21 years. Where am I supposed to go?," said Eileen Frizzel. "We are together and showing that we don't care who comes in here, we're not going."
Frizzel said she thinks the landlord will try anything In their power to get the tenants out.
The owner of the building, a company called 94 Beck Inc. has only had two directors listed according to provincial business records; Ludmila Karakulov and Micheal Klein.
Both of these individuals have been connected to various renovictions across the province over the past few years and have become synonymous with the term for unnecessary renovations, according to tenant advocates.
While some tenants moved from older units into newly renovated ones in the same building and agreed to pay higher rent, others have joined the ranks of ACORN, a community and tenant union that fights for the rights of tenants across the country.
Jacquie Wells, one of the regional leaders for the organization has advised the tenants to stay together as there's strength in numbers.
"Michael Klein, his cronies and the people that work for him are very evasive and are nearly impossible to contact," Wells said. "There is no way to actually track how the renovations are doing, so this six to nine-month period is very fishy."
Some of the renovations that are listed are the removal of walls, plumbing upgrades, electrical upgrades and new appliances.
"We understand that for them this is a business, but for the tenants living there, it's their life," Wells said.
One of the things that ACORN has been pushing for in Cambridge and Waterloo region is for a renoviction bylaw that would prevent a landlord from removing residents on the excuse of a renovation.
This new legislation is something Frizzle hopes will be implemented as she has no faith the property owners have the tenants' best interests at heart.
The City of Hamilton recently passed an anti-renoviction bylaw that would stop "bad faith" renovictions and hold landlords to a higher standard that forces them to meet certain criteria to proceed with an eviction notice.
Wells said ACORN was instrumental in getting Hamilton to implement its bylaw and is advocating locally as well.
These measures would require the landlord to apply to the city for the eviction notice, obtain a contractor's approval that vacancy is necessary to complete the renovation and create an agreement between the tenant and property owner for first right to refusal.
While ACORN and the tenants think this is a step in the right direction, Ontario Landlords Watch founder Kayla Andrade said a bylaw like Hamilton's would drive business and investment out of the region.
"Ontario is already seeing investors leave the province like crazy and going to places like the United States and Alberta," Andrade said. "If there are more regulations that are making the industry non-investor friendly, why would they come here?"
The Cambridge landlord advocate said she sympathizes with the tenants who could potentially lose their homes, but believes the property owners have a right to maximize their investments and make upgrades where needed.
"It's definitely a business and when people are looking for an investment, they're looking at those types of turnkey properties and if you don't have that option to come in and to actually do the renovations and try to get tenants to relinquish their keys by doing 'cash for keys,' then these properties just stay there on the market forever," she said.
"So landlords are doing what they legally can to get their property back to market value and continue to generate a profit."
If more government involvement slows the progress of these investors, Andrade thinks it will only put the burden on the government to subsidize more housing to buy more property and become landlords themselves.
"The municipalities need to stay in their lane or else they could create a slumlord situation," she said. "If they go to the landlord-tenant board and say I have an expedited request from the city and these people need to be out, they won't have to compensate the tenants for anything and they'll have to leave."
Currently, landlords have to compensate tenants three months' rent for the relinquishing of their keys.
For most of the tenants on Beck Street, this would only equal $3,000.
The tenants have obtained the legal services of Riverview Legal Services who are now waiting to hear back from the property owners on next steps.
"The ball is in their court and we are waiting to hear their response," said Sarah Tarantino, a paralegal with Riverview Legal. "The tenants are going to remain in their units. They aren't going anywhere."
The renovations are said to take six to nine months, something residents are calling an "exaggeration" as other units are being completed in six weeks.
Wells noted that if a tenant does leave, the owner could rent out the finished unit and there would be no way to legally evict the new resident.
"These timelines are given in bad faith and we've seen it where new tenants are brought in while the old one thinks their place is still being worked on," she said. "There are no rent controls for vacant units so now the new tenant is paying whatever the landlord wants."
Andrade says this is all a part of renting and if the landlord is renovating in good faith, then the tenants have the right to come back.
"The tenants just have to hold on and this is the nasty part of being in that rental game, but if they want to see what it's like on the owner's side of things, it's not that pretty either," Andrade added.
While opinion might be split on who is in the right, one thing remains clear; multiple families are potentially losing housing that is affordable in a time where a two-bedroom apartment is almost $2,000.
"We just want to stay where we are and not have to leave. I don't think it's fair that we need to move when the renovations they claim to be doing are subpar," said Frizzle.
"It feels like we are being scammed and there is not much we can do, except hold our ground."
