Rent Doubled, By Mistake

What Happened

Ms. H lives in a Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) rent-geared-to-income unit. She received a letter from TCHC, notifying her that her rent would be doubling and that the increase was to take effect June 1, 2010. However, while the letter was dated May 24, the envelope showed it was not mailed until July 6 and Ms. H did not receive it until July 12 — well after the increase went into effect.

Every year, tenants paying rent-geared-to-income give proof of their income to TCHC. Ms. H had provided her proof of income to TCHC, however her employer had marked more hours on a pay stub than she had worked. Ms. H had contacted her employer, who was prepared to correct the error. Ms. H called her tenant coordinator and left several messages. When she received no reply, she went to her building superintendent, who told her that TCHC does not have to give notice of rent increases. Having tried all other channels without success, Ms. H called our office.

What We Did

We contacted TCHC and, after several tries, convinced staff that based on the evidence, they should look reassess Ms. H’s rent.

The Result

After speaking with us, TCHC staff re-examined Ms. H’s file. They listened to what she had to say and made the correction to her rent, cancelling the unfair increase.