Landlord/tenant rights, dealing with problems, where to get help...
Cumulative Rent Increases - Possible?
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ForumUser Posts: 541
Posted On: 7/25/2017
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Hello,
I have a question about cumulative rent increases:
I have been renting a property in Toronto for three years. My landlord increased the rent after one year, but for the past two years it has remained the same. However, he has informed me that he would like to increase the rent by 2.8% beginning this fall. I know the limit for 2017 is only 1.5%, but my landlord claims that he can increase the rent cumulatively since he did not increase it at all during 2016.
Is this true?
Does he need to apply to the Landlord & Tenant Board to approve this?
Please advise.
Thank you,
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Moderator Moderator Posts: 4142
Posted On: 7/27/2017
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Hello,
Thank you for sharing your situation and question with us.
We can appreciate that you would be interested in finding out what your rights are in this situation.
According to the Landlord's Self Help Centre (a non-profit community legal clinic funded by Legal Aid Ontario and mandated to support Ontario’s small-scale landlord community exclusively), it is not possible for your landlord to do this.
You can find an excerpt from their website FAQs here:
We did not increase the rent last year. Can we add 2 years’ worth of increases this year? How much is the max increase?
If you don’t take an increase each year, you will not be able to recover it. In this case you can only increase the rent by this year’s guideline amount."
The 2017 rent increase guideline is 1.5 per cent.
The guideline is the most a landlord can increase the rent without applying to the Landlord and Tenant Board.
I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if you have further questions and if there is any follow up to your question/situation.
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Anna
Settlement.Org Content and Information/Referral Specialist, CIRS
Settlement.Org
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