Ontario Landlord Wants To Raise Rent $350 For 'Rising Interest Rates' & People Are Furious
The cost of living in Ontario has been on most people's minds lately, from the average going rate of an apartment for rent to the cost of groceries, and it's no surprise that people are searching for money-saving solutions.
However, some aren't impressed by an Ontario landlord's move to try and raise their tenant's rent above the maximum increase for 2023 and blame it all on interest rates in Canada.
In a series of posts to the r/Ontario thread on Reddit, someone's story of their ongoing battle with their landlord has received hundreds of comments and plenty of strong reactions.
"Landlord wants to charge more than 2.5% rent increase to meet rising interest rates," reads the caption of the post on Reddit from someone with the username u/Yakerrrrr, who said he scored a "hefty discount" on a rent-controlled apartment during "peak pandemic."
He said he currently pays $1,750 per month for the unit that is "easily worth 2600+."
In the post, he explains that interest rates have put his landlord in a tight spot and that the landlord has spoken to him about raising the rent up to $2,100 per month, which amounts to a whopping 20% increase.
"I’ve texted him that I’d be okay with the 2100 if we locked it into a 2 year lease," wrote the tenant.
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While this seems to have launched a back-and-forth negotiation between him and his landlord, the tenant has turned to Reddit to ask for help or suggestions and many people on the platform seem furious about the situation.
"There's no reason for you to agree to anything above 2.5%," one person commented.
"Not sure where landlords got the idea they are entitled to getting free property because they put down a down payment and stretched themselves so thin," another wrote.
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The thread was also full of advice and people offering helpful suggestions to the tenant by explaining that, per the regulations for renting in Ontario, the tenant could find himself kicked out if his landlord opted to evict him for personal reasons or move into the unit themself.
"If you're fine paying $2100 a year in order to buy yourself some security then that's a completely reasonable thing to do," one person suggested.
In an update on the situation days after the original post, the tenant seemed to have found himself in potentially even more trouble.
"He told me he’s going to be out of there by the end of April and would be homeless and need to move into my place if it came to that and we couldn’t reach an agreement," he recalled from a recorded phone conversation with his landlord. "He claimed that if he gave me the 60 days notice, he’d legally be allowed to move in and live WITH me since he’d be homeless and have no place to live."
While a landlord can evict a tenant to move into a unit themselves using an N12, per the Landlord and Tenant Board, people found quite a bit of humour in the suggestion that this landlord and tenant would actually live together.
"That’s the funniest sh*t I’ve read today. 'Move in with me.' That guy must be a complete moron," one person commented.
The tenant said his next move will be to try and speak with a lawyer and the tenant board to understand his rights and options in hopes that he can stay in the apartment.
