Long time tenant Roger Alvarez in his Parkdale apartment that he shares with his wife, new baby, and son Chris. Tenants at four Parkdale apartment buildings have won a $50,000 settlement against Akelius, their corporate landlord.
Long time tenant Roger Alvarez in his Parkdale apartment that he shares with his wife, new baby, and son Chris. Tenants at four Parkdale apartment buildings have won a $50,000 settlement against Akelius, their corporate landlord.
A corporate landlord has agreed to pay $50,000 to a group of Parkdale tenants who accused the company of neglecting their apartments.
Last year, 35 tenants filed joint applications with the Landlord and Tenant Board alleging that their landlord, Akelius Canada Ltd., had reduced their services and substantially interfered with the enjoyment of their properties by removing on-site superintendents and replacing them with a tenant hotline.
Akelius, which is the Canadian arm of a Swedish property giant, has been accused by some tenants of stalling on repairs as part of a strategy to force out lower-income residents, renovate the vacated units and drastically increase the rents.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Since opening a Toronto office in 2011, the company has been an aggressive player on the rental market, snapping up 2,627 apartments in 35 buildings across the city.
Akelius steadfastly denies trying to push out residents. In an email to the Star, spokesperson Ben Scott said the company renovates its properties for the benefit of all residents, and is committed to ensuring that “tenants of all income ranges… have a safe, comfortable place to call home for as long as they desire.”
The settlement involved tenants at four properties: 99 Tyndall Ave., 77 Spencer Ave., and 95 and 188 Jameson Ave. In their submissions to the board, the residents alleged that removal of the superintendents caused a litany of maintenance problems, including repair requests going unaddressed for months, irregular garbage pickup and an outbreak of pest infestations. In one case, a tenant was forced to manually flush his toilet with a bucket of water for two weeks, according to the applications. In another, a woman had “sewage all over her bathroom for days.”
The tenants were seeking either a rent reduction or the reinstatement of their superintendents, and asked that Akelius be fined and forced to pay compensation for alleged damages. The board was scheduled to hear the applications next month, but instead the two sides reached a deal. The settlement only applies to tenants at the four buildings who took part in the case.
Under the terms of the agreement, Akelius accepted no liability for the tenants’ allegations, which were not tested by the board. But Scott acknowledged “there were shortcomings” when Akelius took over the buildings’ management and said the company felt “the settlement was necessary to address that period where some tenants experienced a drop off in service.” He said the company has since added staff and improved maintenance practices.
Cole Webber is a community legal worker at Parkdale Community Legal Services, the group that represented the tenants in the case. He said the settlement is proof that renters are at risk for having their rights violated if they don’t band together. “I think the point is that the tenants wouldn’t have gotten anything had they not organized in their buildings and brought the fight to Akelius,” he said.
Geordie Dent, the executive director of the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations, described the settlement as “a shot across the bow” for Akelius, and said it was a warning to landlords that they can’t reduce services to tenants without compensating them.
The settlement works out to just over $1,428 for each participating tenant, but not all of them were fully satisfied with the deal. Roger Alvarez, a factory worker who has been a tenant at 188 Jameson for nearly two decades, will benefit from the settlement, but said he’d be better off getting his superintendent back.
“I feel like we could have got more, but I’m happy it’s over right now,” he said. “We fought back against these guys and at least we took a tooth out. Or at a least a filling, I would say.”
With files from Jacques Gallant
Ben Spurr is a
Toronto-based reporter covering city hall and municipal politics
for the Star. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on
Twitter: @BenSpurr.
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