It is very important to make sure you know who your landlord is and what kind of housing you live in before you get into a dispute about your rent. When you first move into an apartment or other rental home, there is no longer any limit on what a landlord can charge. Also, your landlord can charge extra for services which other tenants get included in their rent. This rental policy is known as ““vacancy decontrol””. Vacancy decontrol has pushed up rents in many apartment buildings by $200 - $300 per month since the TPA (“Tenant Protection Act”) went in effect. See section 124 of the TPA.

However, after you have moved in and your rent is set, there are rules and limits on how much and how often your rent can increase.

If you moved into your current apartment before June 17, 1998 (the day the Tenant Protection Act came into effect), then your apartment has a “maximum rent increase limit” set by the government. The maximum rent may be the same as what you are currently paying ;but in some cases, it may also be higher. If you moved into your apartment before June 17, 1998, you can phone the Tribunal to find out if the maximum rent is more than what you are currently paying. There is no charge for requesting this information for your own apartment. The Tribunal will charge $25 for this information (entitled a Public Information Report) if you are requesting it for a whole building.

Unfortunately, some landlords want to take advantage of vacancy decontrol by harassing their existing tenants out of the apartments, in order to increase rents.

There are some “anti-harassment” sections in the TPA that tenants can use. They are mentioned in this website, and in the harassment section of the FMTA’s The Tenant’s Survival Manual.

If you feel that you are being harassed or intimidated by your landlord into moving out of you apartment, please contact the Tenant Hotline at 416-921-9494, your local legal clinic or the Investigations Unit of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing as soon as possible.

• When can my rent be increased?
• How much can my rent be Increased?
• When will the Tribunal Allow a Rent Increase Greater than the Rent Guideline?
• What can I do when my Landlord Applies for a Rent Increase Above the Guideline?
• Above-Guideline Rent Increasesfor Individual Apartments