Tenants of a Guelph apartment building are on edge, and have been for months, fearing they will soon lose their housing to extensive alterations.
The apartment building on 493 Victoria Road N. has 15 three-bedroom units and one two-bedroom unit. Those living in them are mostly families on a fixed or limited income.
Many of its residents have lived there for 10 to 20 years. They all know each other and consider themselves family in more ways than one.
The building, for them, is home. Not to mention, it’s rent-controlled, the average rent coming in at around $1,200 a month all inclusive.
But that might not be the case for long.
At the start of 2024, tenants received notice from the owners, who purchased the building in 2023, were going to do renovations and that the hydro and water would be shut off.
Initially they were told four units would be turned into smaller apartments, but by the spring that had changed to all 16 units turned into 31.
“Technically we won’t have our own unit to come back to,” said Betty, who has lived in the building for nearly 20 years.
She said they were told they could relocate to one of their other units, but at the market value, around $2,200 a month.
She lived there with her husband until he was diagnosed with dementia and she was no longer able to take care of him. After that, her daughter moved in to help her with rent because her pension is only around $1,437 a month.
“I can’t even afford that on my own. My daughter works. Neither one of us can afford to pay $2,200,” she said.
GuelphToday met with most of the building residents, who said they’re feeling stressed and anxious waiting to see what comes next.
“We’re all devastated,” said Betty’s sister, Wendy Charmicael, who has lived there for five years.
“We’re all here because we’re comfortable here, we’re comfortable with each other. We can afford the rent, and it’s a clean building (that’s) not falling apart,” she said.
“Not to mention, we all know each other. It’s a small building. We don’t have bed bugs. We don’t have cockroaches. Now, when we move, we have to worry about that.”
The uncertainty of what will happen next is taking a toll, even on the children, said Anne Marie Fitzgerald, who lives in the building with her husband John, raising their three grandchildren.
“We have children that are very scared,” she said.
Pat Bentley, who is 82 and was recently diagnosed with dementia, puts decorations up for holidays and special days every year since she moved in 16 years ago.
“She has been so stressed. So many tears, crying,” said Anne Marie. “She’s a nervous wreck. And it really hurts. We’re stressed too. It’s been so awful.”
“We love this place. We make it our home. We celebrate the holidays together. We all help each other out. We’re not wrecking the place. We’re the kind of tenants people want,” said Selene Jackson, who lives there with her husband and kids.
Jackson is disabled and can’t work. Her two children are on the autism spectrum and can’t sleep in the same room.
“I think most of us have been in tears several times,” Carmichael said.
But not all hope is lost, according to Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County executive director Stephanie Clendenning.
While it's true that if units are being demolished, there is no right of return for tenants, there is also the question of what it means to demolish something, which isn’t clearly set out in the Residential Tenancies Act.
“The general rule is that the LTB says demolition is the total destruction of a rental unit. So arguably, they’ve stated that the reconfiguration of a unit is not going to constitute a demolition.”
She said there have been cases where obtaining a municipal demolition permit doesn’t mean it’s actually a demolition, either.
“Usually when you look at cases where they’re changing the size of the units, they’re adding a floor, changing a two-bedroom to a three-bedroom, or the opposite, they’re considered to be alterations.
“The tenants might have a shot of saying, this isn’t a demolition. So if they do get those N13’s, let it go to the Landlord Tenant Board and have an adjudicator actually look at what work is being done.”
If given an N13, tenants can refuse the work and remain in their units, though she said a long and likely stressful battle could take place afterward, with the landlord trying to encourage tenants to vacate.
“Over time, people just start to give up. It gets exhausting, constantly fighting these battles.
“This type of work is going to require them to have the tenants not in the unit. So the only way the landlords can do that is through the N13 and have the application filed and heard at the Landlord Tenant Board, at which point an adjudicator is going to decide if this is a demolition or just an alteration.
“Arguably, the LTB won’t allow the termination of tenancy for a renovation that’s going to result in the disappearance of the original rental unit,” she said.
Residents have not received official N13 notices yet, but the matter came before council in December as owners at Daniko Management wanted to expand the parking lot to accommodate more units and therefore parking spaces.
The matter was deferred, and the next date has not yet been set.
Residents believe their best chance at fighting the demolition of their units is to prevent the parking lot expansion from being approved.
They intend to continue going to council meetings to delegate so the city can see the faces of the families and children being impacted.
Daniko Management did not respond to interview requests, although a cover letter from Robert Russel Planning Consultants submitted to the city indicates the application is "desirable" as a way to address the housing crisis by creating additional units.
Clendenning said hopefully when the permits are addressed, the city will “take a look at the current state of affairs in terms of housing and affordability."
“I know on paper people say, oh, they’re creating more units, that’s a good thing. But these particular families are going to be displaced.”
