Debbie Staples vividly remembers the day she was told she would have to leave the Vanier apartment she had called home for 18 years.
“I cried,” she said. “I grabbed a garbage bag, started cleaning out my closet and throwing clothes in my bag.”
A new landlord took over Staples’ building, promising no changes. A week later, they offered $5,000 in a “cash for keys” deal. A week after that, Staples and her neighbours received N13s.
An N13 is a notice issued when a landlord decides to make large-scale renovations, demolish or convert their unit, requiring all tenants to vacate.
Housing activists in Ottawa deplore the use of bad-faith N13s by landlords who want to force out tenants to increase rents. They call this phenomenon “renoviction” or “demoviction.”
“I still have sleepless nights,” said Staples, who’s been in limbo since receiving the N13 over the summer. “I have got nowhere to go.”
Staples and her neighbours are far from alone in dealing with renoviction. Ottawa has seen a 545 per cent increase in the number of N13s filed between 2017 and 2022, according to ACORN, a community union for low to moderate-income people. Ottawa was third among the cities in Ontario with the most N13s issued during that time.
Paul Burns, a resident of Aspen Towers at Grenon Avenue and Richmond Road, is facing the same issue. After his previous landlord sold the building in July 2024, Burns and his neighbours were in the dark for five days. Then, they were made aware that they had to vacate so the building could be renovated.
Burns said he panicked. “I couldn’t sleep, I didn’t know where I was going to go, my rent is going to double,” he said.
He loves his unit because it’s affordable and has a beautiful view, he said. He has been living there for 10 years, and many of his neighbours have been in the building for decades. “They really didn’t spare anybody. They just mass-evicted the entire building.”
He says the new landlords have not identified themselves to their new tenants.
“This landlord hasn’t said a thing to us. Just ‘get out’ and nothing else.”
Burns said he had not found out about the eviction notice until NDP members knocked at his door to let him know.
Lack of rights
Chandra Pasma, NDP MPP for Ottawa West-Nepean has been active in the renoviction and demoviction issue since she first started seeing it as a widespread problem.
After hearing the new Aspen Towers landlords had given tenants five days to respond to the eviction notices, she got together with city councillors, including Bay Ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh, who was “furious.” They spent a day knocking on doors and informing tenants of their rights, including that they legally had 120 days to respond to the notice.
“It was deeply upsetting to know that people weren’t being told what their rights actually were, and that they might be pressured into signing a document that they did not need to sign,” Pasma said.
Her office organized a meeting with ACORN and Community Legal Services of Ottawa for tenants to ask questions, get advice on what to do next, and discuss their experiences of intimidation by the landlord, trying to push them into signing the notice and leaving.
“The number one challenge is that tenants don’t actually know what their rights are, and the landlord absolutely takes advantage of that,” said Pasma.
She says the Residential Tenancies Act of Ontario does not do enough to protect tenants, which allows landlords to get away with these actions.
“I have no doubt that what this landlord wants to do is get these long-standing tenants out so they can charge market rent, which is now over $2,000 for a one-bedroom apartment in Ottawa,” she said.
The erosion of affordable housing
“These types of renovictions and demovictions on these larger scales are incredible losses of affordable housing in Canada,” said Andrew Crosby, a post-doctoral researcher in the department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University.
The housing and rental system is more geared towards protecting landlords, said Crosby, who researches housing justice. Under the Residential Tenancies Act of Ontario, landlords are only required to give a three-month notice of eviction and three months’ worth of rent. Tenants have no avenue to fight against N13s, other than arguing technicalities, he said.
“There’s no mechanism to document the impacts on the actual people, the humans that live in the buildings,” said Crosby. ”That’s an aspect of the Residential Tenancies Act that is quite dehumanizing.”
Crosby adds that it has been documented that for every affordable housing unit built in Ottawa, 31 are lost.
“That doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily being demolished,” he said. “In most cases, a lot of them are still there, but they’re just not affordable anymore.”
Crosby argues the efforts to counter the housing crisis are overly focused on increasing supply, and not enough on protecting existing affordable housing.
“The primary drivers of the affordable housing loss are renovictions, demovictions and rent increases.”
Legal obstacles
Sarah Sproule, director of legal services at Community Legal Services of Ottawa, says her office has seen a large increase in clients coming to the clinic regarding N13 notices over the last five years.
The cases have many points in common, she said: they usually affect low-income tenants and the evictions are usually carried out by new landlords, who want to renovate or demolish.
“It’s people that own a lot of properties or companies that own a lot of properties that we see as the landlords behind N13 notices,” she said.
Although landlords are required to include some detail of the planned renovations, they don’t need to prove they are necessary.
“The provincial law doesn’t require the landlord to get a permit before they serve the notice, or to provide an opinion from a contractor or an engineer to explain why vacant possession is required,” Sproule said.
This makes it hard to fight against bad-faith N13 notices, which is why many tenants decide to move as soon as possible and avoid the trouble.
“When a tenant receives an N13, it can be very difficult for them to determine what their best course of action is, or to really know what’s going on,” she said.
She advises anyone who receives an N13 not to sign anything and to seek out legal help. Many clinics, such as Community Legal Services of Ottawa, offer free legal advice.
Tenant solidarity
Staples says that since being served the N13 notices, she and her neighbours have come together.
“It’s like a united family in the whole building since this happened,” she said. “We’ve all come together, now I have everybody’s phone number.”
Staples and Burns say they are disappointed with how the city has handled this issue but are grateful for the help they’ve received from organizations like ACORN, the NDP and Community Legal Services.
Through ACORN, they have been organizing and protesting to fight bad faith renovictions and demovictions. It’s time for the Ottawa City Council to help them, they say.
“I just want them (City Council) to open their ears and open their hearts,” Staples said. “All I’m asking for is for someone to do the right thing.”
Council considers renoviction bylaw
City Council has been starting to focus on this issue. They’ve been looking into creating a renoviction bylaw since last spring, inspired by Hamilton and Toronto, which have recently put bylaws in place.
A bylaw could, for example, require landlords to submit proof, like an engineer’s report, before they can get permission to renovate.
Somerset Ward Coun. Ariel Troster has had meetings with ACORN and tenants who believed they’d received bad-faith N13s to try and help with this issue.
She, along with Orléans West-Innes Coun. Laura Dudas, also put up a fight against developer Smart Living Properties over their planned controversial demolition of 219-223 Bank St. and 178 Nepean St. during a recent planning committee meeting.
“Ariel Troster has been phenomenal in trying to enact a bylaw,” said Burns. “I am confident that a bylaw will be put in place, I’m just hoping that it’s put in place in time.”
Ultimately, time is running out for tenants as they wait to hear if they will be evicted from their homes. There is a lot at stake for low-income tenants dealing with N13s. Burns says he still has sleepless nights and pent-up anxiety over the battle.
Staples doesn’t know where she will go if she loses her affordable apartment.
“Will the postman deliver my mail to my car? Because that’s where I’m going to be ending up.”
