Hamilton to adopt first anti-renoviction bylaw in Ontario

The new bylaw will require renters to prove unit vacancy necessary for renovations, aiming to stop “bad faith” renovictions

The city of Hamilton is set to become the first city to act at the municipal level to reduce the number of “renovictions”. A new bylaw set to come into action Jan. 1, 2025 will require renters to pay for an eviction licence and make it more difficult to evict tenants for the purpose of performing renovations.

A renoviction refers to when a landlord evicts tenants from a housing unit with the intention of performing repairs and/or renovation, typically with the intent of raising the rent afterwards. When a renter wishes to evict a tenant(s) for these purposes, they issue an N-13 eviction notice to the tenant.

N-13 eviction notices are considered no-fault eviction notices, as renters are not required to prove tenants have done something wrong or violated their responsibilities. Landlord’s are also not required to provide tenants with proof that they are in fact intending to perform renovations.

Already in place to dissuade landlord’s from evicting renters and performing renovations with the intent of raising rent afterwards is Bill 184, the Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act.

Bill 184 places fines on renters places fines on renters who have evicted tenants in “bad faith,” which includes when renters evict tenants to perform renovations and then later rent to other tenants and/or raises the rent. Landlord’s proven to have evicted tenants in bad faith can face fines of fifty thousand dollars under Bill 184.

Despite these penalties, the incidence of N-13 renoviction notices increased 983 per cent from 2017 to 2022. Additionally, as reported by CBC Toronto in November 2023, of the 13 fines issued for bad-faith evictions in Ontario, only four had been paid at the time of reporting. Most of these fines were also for less than five thousand dollars, far below the $50 000 maximum.

Hamilton’s new bylaw, the Renovations Licence and Relocation Bylaw, will require landlords to provide proof from a qualified engineer that renovating their unit requires the unit to be vacant. Landlords will also need to obtain a licence to issue an N-13 eviction notice at a cost of $715 dollars.

As a result, renters will no longer be able to evict tenants for minor renovations for which having the unit vacant is deemed unnecessary by an expert.

In cases where an N-13 license is approved, landlord’s will also be required to provide alternative living accommodations or compensation during  the time of the renovation.

The General Issues Committee, which includes the mayor and all city councillors, voted in favour of the new bylaw on Jan 17, but still needed to be ratified at the next council meeting on Jan 24. In an email statement to the Silhouette, Antonella Giancarlo, Senior Communications Officer of the City Manager's Office, confirmed on behalf of Acting City Clerk Janet Pilon that the bylaw was approved at the meeting on Jan 24, but will not take effect until Jan 1 2025.

ACORN Hamilton, the local chapter of the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now, had been advocating for a law such as this one to be adopted since as early as April 2023.

The bylaw was expected to be finalized in October 2023, but the decision was pushed back to this January to allow for more time to consider feedback and the cost of the new licence program. Once ratified, the bylaw will officially come into effect and be enforced beginning next January.

Following Hamilton’s decision to adopt the new bylaw, Acorn Hamilton has stated they are challenging all Ontario cities to follow suite and adopt similar bylaws as Hamilton.