A public drama between a landlord and tenants is playing out on the lawn of a small Toronto apartment complex, with residents crying foul via a fake development sign while the building owner paints protestors' claims as "unequivocally false."

A union representing disgruntled tenants of an apartment complex at 31 Clearview Heights, near Black Creek Drive and Eglinton, has taken a stand against owner QMW Corp, claiming that the landlord is trying to force residents out in hopes of demolishing the buildings on site and redeveloping the land into condos.

The buildings were previously renovated in 2017 by former owners Marlin Spring Developments before being sold off to current owner QMW. However, a residents group alleges that QMW has spent the last several years increasing rents in a bid to "force tenants to pay for the cost of buying these buildings."

YSW Tenant Union has installed a sign outside of the property mimicking the style of an official City of Toronto development notice, calling out the complex owner for alleged unfair practices.

👀 NEW SIGN we put up to tell the truth about what our landlord QMW Corp is REALLY up to but doesn’t want us to know

They boast to their investors about skirting around rent control & their plans to renovict AND demovict us, so we thought the whole neighbourhood should know…🧵 pic.twitter.com/z69HidfZDm

— YSW Tenant Union (@YSWtenants) August 28, 2024

The fake development sign alleges that the owner seeks to "get as many tenants out of these buildings as possible" with an eventual plan to "demolish these buildings to build hundreds of luxury condos that no one can afford."

However, QMW Corp is slamming the development notice from YSW, with a company representative telling blogTO that the "non-affiliated tenant union" is "making several inaccurate claims about our practices."

The QMW representative defended the company in an email, explaining that "the assertion that we force our tenants to cover the cost of purchasing buildings is unequivocally false" and stressing that company "operations strictly adhere to Toronto's rent guidelines, which are designed to protect tenants and ensure fair practices."

"Recent increases in interest rates, property taxes and insurance costs are external economic factors that impact all landlords. However, the rent increases we apply are regulated by annual guidelines, typically around 2.5 per cent."

QMW states that any renovations to the property, such as new roofs or parking lots, "are made in accordance with legal provisions allowing us to continue to focus and provide rental housing within the City of Toronto."

As for allegations of displacing tenants for rent increases, QMW states that "the claim that we are deliberately trying to displace tenants to raise rents is completely unfounded. Our tenant turnover is only a direct result of natural turnover."

The company rep told blogTO that "we must manage expenses, including mortgages, property taxes, insurance and utilities which would otherwise jeopardize our ability to maintain the property and provide essential services," adding that any turnover is handled "with the utmost consideration for our tenants' needs."

QMW also takes issue with the tenant union's claims of redevelopment, explaining that "our development plans do not involve demolishing buildings to make way for luxury condos. Instead, our plans are focused on creating additional rental housing units."

The landlord rebukes the campaign from the union and claims that the sign presents "misleading information that not only misrepresents our intentions and practices, but also discourages others that would potentially want to do their part in helping create additional affordable rental housing units."

Fake development signs mocking the ongoing housing boom have become a means of statement — and sometimes just a fun prank on NIMBYs — for years now.

A 2021 sign posted in a midtown park had locals freaking out, thinking that their beloved green space was to be wiped clean and redeveloped into condos.

More fake signs appeared in 2023, including one purportedly informing the public of a residential development for ants, and another proposing a second CN Tower.

Most recently, a prankster digitally altered an existing development sign and got locals talking about a nonexistent plant to construct a 96-storey tower on a block currently occupied by single-family homes.