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?
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:
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.