Photo taken by: Adam Briggs
For those of you asking "what is a renoviction?"
Renoviction: An attempt to evict a tenant or tenants by claiming the building is in such bad shape that building permits and vacating the premises are necessary.
That is exactly what is happening to approximately 120 residents under the ownership of Bedford Properties. These tenants have been told due to the state of the building and units they live in, they need to vacate the area so that construction can begin as normally permitted by building permits. The only thing is that in this case none have been obtained by the company. This information comes from Shannon Lawrence one of the occupants in the Sidney St. apartment complex.
Shannon stated in our livestream this afternoon that no permits have been obtained and the buildings/units themselves are in good condition leaving her to believe that these renovictions are given in bad faith. She along with other tenants in the building have arranged to have a legal clinic run by CALC the Community Advocacy & Legal Centre. She has also spent a fair bit of time in city hall voicing her, as well as other tenants' concerns to the city council and mayor.
This afternoon's live coverage
Her message is clear. Better safeguards need to be put in place by our government to protect tenants from being exploited by landlords using these loopholes. Some landlords have indeed bought a property in the last few years only to stay in it for the 1-year minimum and then either sell or rerent the unit once again, or they simply state the building is in bad repair and even though legally they are supposed to offer the unit back to the current tenant at the same rate, they do not. This is called a "Renoviction"
All of us together can help inform the government of these errors in legislation and in turn can hopefully change the future and make sure that the efforts of these brave people do not go unforgotten in history or down in vain as the saying goes.
For more information on how you can help these tenants fight for more rights and changes to legislation visit www.qwrenovictions.ca
Link for Donations:
We are solely independent with our news and our only funding is your amazing donations to the link below. If you value non-biased and truthful news based on facts, please anything helps us keep you informed and in the know
Comments