Official evictions due to renovations are relatively rare in Sudbury, with only four of last year’s 966 in Ontario taking place in the Nickel City.
During the Feb. 13 city council meeting, the city’s elected officials will consider a motion by Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin to have city staff investigate ways to reduce so-called renovictions.
The number of official evictions due to renovations are from Tribunals Ontario, and include the number of L2 applications based on N13 notices.
They encompass properties within the postal codes P3A, P3B, P3C, P3E and P3G, which make up the city of Sudbury and exclude outlying communities making up Greater Sudbury.
N13 notices are given to tenants to end their tenancy because the landlord wants to demolish the rental unit, repair it or convert it to another use. L2 applications are for formal orders to follow through on various eviction notices, including N13 notices, through Tribunals Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board.
In 2022, there were eight official renovictions in Greater Sudbury (1,089 provincially), preceded by 15 in 2021 (487 in Ontario), 13 in 2020 (387 in Ontario) and six in 2019 (522 in Ontario).
“Any data about N13 evictions would not capture the many, many renovictions that occur without a formal LTB hearing,” an Ontario NDP spokesperson told Sudbury.com.
“In many cases, landlords will simply tell the tenant to leave, and the LTB never learns about it and can’t track it. Tenants often do not know they have the right to a hearing after receiving notice, and may just leave even if they don’t need to.”
Last week, Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin shared a story with Sudbury.com about a senior who was handed an N13 eviction notice. The senior was linked with legal aid and is now appealing the eviction, but Fortin said the process is “a lot to ask a senior to go through.”
Fortin’s motion requests a staff report on reducing the number of renovictions to be presented to city council by October 2024,
The Feb. 13 meeting begins at 6 p.m. and can be viewed at council chambers in Tom Davies Square or livestreamed by clicking here.
