GTA Renters, Relax! Landlords, Better Luck Next Time

The renter-landlord issues in Toronto are not new. They have been a significant concern for decades, with the crisis becoming more pronounced in the 1970s when government investment in affordable housing began to decline.

This situation escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic, worsening the challenges faced by low-income households. As a result, the rental market has seen rising costs and increasing unaffordability, creating an emergency for many residents.

On the other side, landlords faced issues caused by irresponsible and troublesome renters. Their challenges were serious; families, especially retirees who had invested their life savings in rental properties to support themselves in their later years, found themselves in deep trouble. They dealt with months of missed rent payments, properties being used for illegitimate purposes, non-payment of utility bills, and property damage—the list goes on.

Both groups hoped the provincial government would intervene with measures that would be fair to everyone involved. The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party responded to this critical issue by including it in Bill 60, the “Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act,” introduced by the government of Premier Ford on October 23, 2025.

However, the specific issue regarding renters’ rights and ‘security of tenure‘ (the right to remain in their unit) did not have to wait for further debate. On Sunday, October 26, the authors of the bill, Ontario’s PC Party, announced that the government would not proceed with discussions on renters’ security of tenure. In simple terms, this means that renters will continue to enjoy the same rights they have had for decades, while landlords will have to wait longer for legislative solutions addressing their problems.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing explained this sudden change in plans by saying that “residents (tenants) expect stability and predictability in Ontario’s rental market and now is not the best time to consider changes to this system.” However, he added that the province would “continue to implement common-sense reforms and strengthen the province’s rental housing market by cracking down on abuse of the system and encouraging new rental construction to make it easier for families to find a place to call home.”

Toronto’s Mayor Olivia Chow reacted to this news, expressing her relief and stating that any change in the status quo could have been “catastrophic for the 50 per cent of Torontonians who rent their homes and would have been a victory for large corporate landlords.”

There was no mention in Mayor Chow’s response of retired and senior Canadians who are also landlords, often not for wealth accumulation but to survive.