A frustrated Coun. David Ferreira expressed disappointment after a decision by the Community and Protective Services (CAPS) Committee not to support his motion directing staff to prepare a report about closing a loophole in London’s by-law to discourage so-called ‘renovictions.’ “It doesn’t make sense to me at all!” Ferreira said to CTV News following the meeting. “I think we need to stop this now. There are a ton of people out there that are at risk [and] that are already going through this process right now.” A ‘renoviction’ is the unethical use of an N-13 Eviction Notice to evict a low-income tenant under the pretense of renovating their unit, when in fact, the landlord wants to use the vacancy to hike the rent for a new tenant. London’s Rental Unit Repair License by-law took effect in March, requiring landlords to obtain a $600 license from City Hall for each unit receiving an N-13 notice. However, Ferreira has learned some landlords are exploiting a loophole in the by-law that exempts renovations that demolish or convert the apartment into a commercial business space. On Monday, he urged colleagues on the CAPS Committee to back his motion directing staff to prepare a report about how to close the loophole that permits “demovictions.” “There’s been a clear increase on evictions from bad-faith landlords just looking to remove tenants from their longtime housing,” he said. A number of tenants who have been fighting N-13 notices pleaded with the committee to take urgent action. “I can’t afford today’s rents. I’m afraid of becoming homeless. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me and my cat!” said Darcy Barnes who claims to be facing demoviction. Gayle Harrision warned, “It’s really time that City Hall looks at things differently when it comes to affordable housing, or more of us are going to be out on the street!” “It’s the elderly and it’s the disabled,” said Jordan Smith, a representative of tenants’ advocacy group London Acorn. “It’s the traumas that they have to go through to fight back against these bad-faith tactics.” City staff told the CAPS Committee that their existing workload means the earliest they could bring back a report about closing the loopholes would be summer or fall (Q3 or Q4) of 2026. In the meanwhile, they are already working on a review of the current renoviction by-law that will come early next year. “I really want to wait for [the first report] and make the best possible decisions going forward,” said Coun. Jerry Pribil. But Coun. Sam Trosow fired back, “I’m not willing to say sorry we’re going to do a review next year. So too bad, so sad if something happens to you between then!” Ferreira’s motion lost on a tie vote 2-2 (Ferreira and Trosow in favour, Pribil and Peloza opposed). “Staff have a report coming back in Q2 of next year,” Coun. Elizabeth Peloza said after the meeting. “I’m interested to see that report before I make decisions about what needs to be done for next steps.” However, Trosow expressed concern that the motion didn’t receive the committee’s recommendation, “I’m so worried about just throwing more and more people into homelessness, and we’re not paying enough attention to homelessness prevention!” Despite the deadlock at the CAPS Committee, City Council will make a final decision at its meeting on Dec. 16. “If you want to stop homelessness, where do you start?” Ferreira asked rhetorically. “You start before people become homeless.”
