More than 100 tenants in a three-building apartment complex in Thorncliffe Park are refusing to pay rent and striking against their landlord in protest of above guideline rent increases (AGIs). 

Dozens of tenants of 71, 75, and 79 Thorncliffe Park Drive in Toronto stopped paying rent on May 1 after they were given a notice of the rent increases, which ranged from 4.94 to 5.5 per cent, despite Ontario's rent increase guideline for 2023 being 2.5 per cent. 

PSP Investments, a Canadian crown corporation that manages pension funds for federal public service workers and others owns the buildings through its partner, Starlight Investments. Tenants participating in the strike are accusing the owners of beginning renovations without properly notifying residents of the accompanying rent increases. 

According to residents, the building owners previously sought a rent increase of 4.2 per cent in 2022. 

Rent strikers from 71, 75, and 79 Thorncliffe Park rallied yesterday at the home of Miranda Hubbs, a member of PSP Investments’ Board of Directors, to demand PSP withdraw the above guideline rent increases at our buildings. pic.twitter.com/fKdfGxKyLW

— Thorncliffe Park Tenants (@tparktenants) June 5, 2023

Thorncliffe Park is a densely-populated and multicultural community that's widely regarded as an "arrival city" for newcomers. Tenants —  some of whom have escaped war-torn countries to find a better life here in Canada — claim that the rent increases "will force them out of their homes." 

"Tenants are working together to fight the massive rent increases and defend their homes from those seeking to profit from displacement," a website dedicated to PSP displaced tenants reads.  

Tenants at 71, 75 & 79 Thorncliffe Park will continue withholding rent in June and more tenants are joining the rent strike.

We are again calling on Starlight and PSP Investments to immediately withdraw the above guideline rent increases at our buildings that we cannot afford.

— Thorncliffe Park Tenants (@tparktenants) June 1, 2023

"In Ontario, above guideline increases (AGIs) allow landlords to transfer the costs of certain renovations and repairs on to tenants, resulting in rent increases of up to three per cent above the provincial rent increase guideline for three years in a row," the website continues. 

BREAKING: PSP Investments has initiated the eviction process against tenants on rent strike at 71, 75, and 79 Thorncliffe Park Drive in Toronto.

Over 100 tenants are withholding rent to demand a withdrawal of the above guideline rent increase applications at their buildings. pic.twitter.com/VWVq7d7bQn

— Thorncliffe Park Tenants (@tparktenants) May 15, 2023

"It is unacceptable that multi-billion dollar organizations like Starlight Investments and PSP Investments would try to transfer the costs of these renovations on to existing tenants despite having the money to cover these expenses and invest in the maintenance of these buildings." 

The Landlord and Tenant Board have not officially decided on the above guideline increases in this case yet. 

We’re fighting the above guideline rent increases because if they get approved we will be made to pay rents we can’t afford.

We’re not surprised our landlord wants us to sit and wait until the rent hikes are approved—at that point there will be nothing we can do to stop them.

— Thorncliffe Park Tenants (@tparktenants) June 5, 2023

Just last week, nearly 200 residents at 33 King Street in York South-Weston also decided to stop paying rent and strike against their corporate landlord after seeing their rents increase by "22 per cent in the last five years, despite living in a rent-controlled building."