Tenants protest after claims of illegal evictions at King Edward Ave.

Tenants are seen protesting outside an apartment complex at 80 King Edward Avenue on July 23, 2022. (Jenn Basa / CTV News London)

On Saturday afternoon, a small group of tenants living at the King Edward Ave. apartments held a rally outside of the building calling on the Ontario government to take action.

Members of London ACORN are urging Ontario’s Housing Minister to hold their landlord accountable after claiming they have been illegally evicting their residents.

Nawton Chiles, a member of ACORN told CTV News that nearly 50 tenants from this building have been evicted since September 2021.

"This landlord has been both negligent in making repairs and using repairs to harass tenants and hand out eviction notices for people who have lived here for up to 20 years," said Chiles.

Some tenants in the apartment complex claim their landlord has been harassing and trying to evict them using N5s.

One senior tenant named George said he and his neighbours have addressed several building related issues to the landlord. However, they claim it has been difficult to get in contact with management.

Others told stories about strays coming into their units and workers coming into their building without following COVID protocols during the height of the pandemic.

"The reason behind the N5s is completely fabricated," said Chiles.

The organization which assists Canadian tenants says the landlord has been difficult to reach as they are stationed in Waterloo.

Recently the Ontario Housing Minister ordered an investigation into ACORN’s claims, which some tenants have taken issue with into the N5s that were distributed.

In an emailed statement to CTV London, the minister's office said, "The Ministry’s Rental Housing Enforcement Unit (RHEU) was in contact with both the landlord and tenants."

According to the minister’s office a tenant does not need to move out of their residence until an eviction order is issued by an adjudicator.

CTV News contacted Universal Property Management, which manages the building but has not received a response by deadline.