The province has passed a new rule under the Rental Fairness Act that benefits tenants across the London area. A property evaluation reduction has been applied to owners of buildings with seven units or more, as a result the landlord’s taxes have been reduced and the tenants’ rent.
“The City of London tenants will send out a notice to the tenants of the property, or the address to advise the tenants that their property ought to be reduced,” informs Emma Simms, Licensed Paralegal with the law firm Cohen Highley.
The notice will include the exact amount the rent should be reduced by with a calculation. A drop in property taxes that is 2.49 per cent or more entails landlords having to lower their property rent for tenants.
“In this city, the cost of rent is escalating, they’re becoming higher and this will be a benefit to students, or general tenants to receive relief from higher costs,” notes Simms.
Along with the Rental Fairness Act put into place, the Residential Tenancies Act was also changed to further protect tenants and their rental rights.
“This year the Residential Tenancies Act was also tweaked to deal with some rent. It used to be that tenants in buildings built after 1991 the landlords could increase that rent to whatever they wanted. Now, the province has set in more rules to those buildings that have been built after 1991 to include rent control, so the landlord can’t increase the rent for a post-1991 building more than the provincial guidelines allow,” explains Simms.
If tenants or landlords have questions about the reduction update please contact the Landlord and Tenant Board at 516-645-8080 or for toll free at 1-888-332-3234, or the City of London at 519-661-2489 to talk.
