City committee directs staff to table Ottawa’s draft renoviction bylaw

Ottawa City Hall is seen in this undated file photo. (CTV News Ottawa)

A draft renoviction bylaw will be presented to a City of Ottawa committee in July, despite staff advising recent amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act enhance protections for tenants.

The planning and housing committee voted nine to three in support of a motion from Coun. Ariel Troster for the draft bylaw to be tabled on July 8. Council will have the final say on whether staff will present the bylaw.

Council initially directed staff in May 2024 to assess the feasibility of a municipal renoviction bylaw. But in a report for the committee, staff said amendments introduced to the Residential Tenancies Act in April “enhanced tenant protections, including strengthened requirements related to renovation or repair-related evictions.”

Troster told the committee that a draft bylaw has been written and “withheld from council and the public,” and staff should present it to elected officials for debate.

“This is a fundamental issue of democracy,” Troster said.

“The people who are in the gallery today, including the people who delegated against a renoviction bylaw, took part in good faith in a process.

“What are we scared of here? Bring it forward, let the public actually have a democratic say.”

City staff told the committee that the draft bylaw would require the landlord to obtain a licence from the City of Ottawa before they begin renovations or repairs that require an eviction. Areas of overlap between the Residential Tenancies Act and the city’s draft bylaw include the specific eviction notice from the province, requiring updates to tenants during the renovations and allowing 60 days to return once the work is completed, and a maximum penalty of $100,000.

Staff said Ottawa’s draft bylaw would require a landlord to obtain a building permit before issuing the eviction notice, while the provincial process would encourage the building permit but would not be required until the Landlord and Tenant Board hold a hearing. The city’s draft bylaw would also require an eviction education guide to be presented to tenants.

“Municipal bylaws cannot prohibit evictions. Instead, the goal of the draft bylaw was to direct landlords and tenants towards the provincial process and to provide municipal oversight that the provincial process is being followed,” staff said. “While the draft bylaw does not directly conflict with the strengthened provincial framework, the provincial changes substantially address concerns regarding proper notification and facilitating the right to return, which were also primary goals under the draft bylaw.”

According to staff, the provisions in the Residential Tenancies Act coming into effect in September includes:

Renovation/repair eviction transparency requirements:

• Landlord must provide estimated completion date
• Must update tenants on progress
• Must notify when unit is ready for re-occupancy
• Must provide at least 60 days for tenant to reoccupy if exercising right of return

Right of refusal enforcement mechanism

• Failure to comply with s.3 is deemed a failure to provide right of first refusal
• Allows previously dismissed applications (pre–in-force date) to be refiled.

Other provisions not yet in force

• s.2: Requirement for qualified person report to support renovation/repair evictions.
• s.4: Presumption of bad faith for personal-use evictions if occupation does not occur within a prescribed period.
• s.7: Requirement that the Landlord and Tenant Board consider (but not be bound by) the qualified person report.
• s.11: Regulation-making authority for right of first refusal terms and personal-use eviction timelines.

Staff told the committee that landlord and tenant relations are provincial jurisdiction.

“Disputes regarding evictions and rent are the sole jurisdiction of the Landlord and Tenant Board and municipalities do not have the authority to stop evictions from happening,” staff said.

Toronto, London and Hamilton have renoviction bylaws in effect.

Planning Committee co-chair Glen Gower said Ottawa needs its own bylaw, adding it would be “preventive and could stop unnecessary displacement before it happens.”

“I think the next step is to see what the bylaw would look like, what a licensing or permit regime would look like, what the provisions would be within that, what the costs would be and make a decision,” Gower said, adding supporters of a bylaw have shown patience with the city.

“Hopefully, we can make a decision in July.”

Several delegations appeared before the committee in support and against a renoviction bylaw in Ottawa.

ACORN Ottawa told the committee other cities have already introduced bylaws to “protect tenants facing renoviction threats.”

“The magnitude of the problem is not just measured in the numbers of people affected by these actions, but also in the severity of the impact on the tenants affected by these actions. By definition, the tenants targeted in these actions have generally been living in the same place for many years, and their rent has remained affordable as a result of rent control,” said Sharon Kratz with ACORN Ottawa.

The Ottawa Real Estate Board urged Ottawa not to adopt its own bylaw.

“The question for the committee today is not whether tenants should be protected,” said Michael Lewicki of the board.

“The question is whether a new municipal licensing framework remains necessary now that the province has substantially strengthened the Residential Tenancies Act, and based on the available data, we believe city staff have reached the correct conclusion.”

Lewicki says the amendments to Bill 97 and Bill 60 strengthen tenant protections, enhance the right of return and increase penalties for “bad faith conduct.”

How many renovictions in Ottawa?

The report outlines the number of N13 notices filed with the Landlord and Tenant Board for evictions or repairs, but staff say the data does not represent “the full extent of evictions” because the data wouldn’t capture data if an N13 eviction notice is never issued to a tenant.

According to the report for the planning and housing committee, an average of 31 N13 notices have been filed a year with the Landlord and Tenant Board related to evictions for renovations or repairs since 2022 in Ottawa.

Between 2022 and 2024, a total of 14 T5 applications were associated with N13 notices or with allegations that tenants were denied the right to return following renovations or repairs.

City of Ottawa staff identified approximately 230 rental units across 40 addresses where evictions for renovations or repairs may have or have occurred since 2020 without filings with the Landlord and Tenant Board, according to the report.

“Most of these reported instances were associated with two buildings, including one instance where more than 120 N13 notices were issued for a single building that was not filed with the Landlord and Tenant Board,” staff said.

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