Low-income tenants of a midtown toronto lowrise are banding together and vowing to stay put amid an ongoing battle with their new landlords, who are trying to evict them as they do renovations in the apartment building.
Several residents of 1A Bansley Ave., a four-storey, 20-unit walk-up near Oakwood and Vaughan avenues, received eviction notices beginning in late February telling them they have to vacate by June 30.
Many tenants in the building have lived there for 15 to 20 years and pay a reasonable rent due to provincial rent control provisions, none more than about $1,300 a month, says Hilary Moore, a newer tenant in the building who has received an eviction notice, but doesn’t plan to leave.
“We’re standing our ground. We went to the landlord’s house to drop off a letter. We informed (Michael Klein that he) had disrupted our lives and should be more considerate,” Moore said in an interview.
The property is owned by Michael Klein and Shaya Klein through the company Bansley Apartments Inc. The Star reached out multiple times to Bansley Apartments Inc. by email and telephone, but did not receive a response.
When contacted by telephone, property manager Ichi Arsenio said she couldn’t comment on the situation.
Moore said the tenants’ concern is finding affordable units to live elsewhere if they’re forced out.
Many of them, including several who spoke to the Star at the building, are economically vulnerable. Most are immigrants for whom English is not their first language.
“We’re trying to fight, all of us together. I hope we can do something so they can let us stay here,” says longtime resident Azucena Bravo, a single mother who lives with her seven-year-old son in a one-bedroom she rents for $1,150 a month.
“It’s sad. If we go from here we don’t even know where we’re going to live. It’s not a good feeling.”
According to property records, the building was purchased for $4.3 million on Jan. 18 by Bansley Apartments Inc. About half of the 20 units remain occupied, as some tenants moved out long before the building was sold, Moore says.
A week after the building sold, the property manager and a contractor showed up and renovations began.
Work in one renovated bachelor unit, for example, includes a new open concept design, new counter tops, flooring, cupboards and appliances.
In the February eviction notices to tenants, Bansley Apartments Inc. says the company is planning “extensive renovations” and a “large scope of work” that will lead to floors being “unsafe” for some residents.
The work will take eight to 10 months, the notice says.
The Kleins have permits to do work in the building.
“We understand it may come as a surprise, we are well within our rights as building owners to terminate your tenancy and make necessary improvement,” the note to tenants says.
Under the provincial Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord can apply to terminate a lease if the landlord needs vacant possession to do extensive repairs or renovations.
The law also gives tenants the right to return to their same units at the same rent, post renovations. Bansley Apartments is offering its tenants $4,000 and $5,000 to end their tenancies for good.
Moore, who pays $900 a month for her bachelor was offered a lump sum of $4,000 to give up her tenancy, but she’s refusing. She does n’t believe the work being done in her building de ella qualifies as “extensive.”
One tenant did accept $5,000 from the company and moved out, Moore says.
klein first made news last year after buying two townhouse buildings in Etobicoke in 2020, 25 Leduc Dr. and 2 Torbolton Dr.
Similar to 1A Bansley, his company issued eviction notices asking tenants, who paid just over $1,000 a month rent, to clear out for extensive renovations. Tenants revolted and held demonstrations at the Torbolton building.
Tenants there were offered $5,000 to leave. Some took the money.
Now a renovated three-bedroom unit at 2 Torbolton Dr. is currently listed for $2,900 a month.
In a 2017 interview for an online publishing, Klein said his specialty is buying “off market” products.
“I like to think of it as buying opportunities. Think properties that have low rent, vacancies, physical issues or problem tenants.
“I step in and get to work. I like to describe myself as a doctor. I bring these buildings back to life. I invest physical and financial energy to work a property back up to market value,” he says in the interview.
Leidy Elizondo, who has lived at 1A Bansley for 16 years and rents a two-bedroom for $965 a month with her husband, Francisco, and two sons, Francisco, 18, and Ruben, 16, says she’s feeling constant stress because she doesn’t don’t know what’s going to happen next.
“I don’t want to leave here,” she says.
Her husband had heart surgery in April and won’t be returning to his job as a janitor until August or September while he recovers. Money is tight.
As a backup plan, she and her husband have looked into two-bedroom units to rent elsewhere but the rates are high, around $2,000 and more.
Leidy says that amount would put pressure on her son Francisco to work and chip in money for the family. She does not want that and would rather he just focus on his schooling of her.
He’ll be attending university soon.
For now, the group of tenants are waiting to see what happens next. The idea of going to the Landlord and Tenant Board to fight the evictions has been raised among them, but they haven’t yet discussed that step in detail, Moore says.
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