Rent Strike: Claims vs. Facts
Was the 16-Month Rent Strike Really a Victory?
My opponent’s public claims that the rent strike was
“a huge victory”
and that she
“won a 16-month-long strike”
contradict the official record and ignore the serious consequences for local tenants.
| Tenant Union & Opponent’s Claim | The Official Record |
|---|---|
| A victory for collective tenant representation | The tenant union was denied organized representation (p. 4). The only reason the hearings were combined was strictly for administrative speed (case management) (p. 3). |
| Withholding rent is an effective strategy | Landlord-tenant rules are not a “self-help regime” and do not permit tenants to withhold rent as a form of economic pressure. The LTB ordered all tenants to immediately begin paying their rent directly to the landlord starting August 1, 2024. |
| Paying rent into a shared “trust” provides legal protection | The tenants wanted to pay their rent into a trust account with the LTB to ensure the money was withheld from the landlord. This was flatly denied. |
| The rent-strike resulted in groundbreaking repairs being ordered | The repairs were ordered based on the legal merit of the maintenance evidence, not because rent was withheld, and they would have been ordered whether or not tenants withheld rent. |
| Created momentum for city-wide tenant unionization | The legal and credit fallout for tenants is clear; because the union pushed for collective representation at a public hearing, they are all named together in the judgment. |
The Legal Aftermath
The provincial government introduced Bill 60 which has made things even worse
for tenants by stripping away the ability to use collective action as economic
leverage against landlords.
Tenants must now pay half of any owing rent upfront, and the law has dismantled
the ability for tenant unions to use collective action as a stall tactic or a
bargaining tool.
Even my opponent’s allies admit to the harm the rent-strike caused.
Source:
2 comments
Esta Reinger
January 25, 2018 at 9:35 am
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Dr. Jaquelin McDermott IV
January 25, 2018 at 9:35 am
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