Council passes new rules but advocates say gaps remain
Ottawa city council has approved a municipal by-law intended to curb bad-faith renovictions, clearing a key step on July 15 after the Planning and Housing Committee approved the measure on July 8. The by-law will come into force on Jan. 1, 2027, following a multi-year campaign by students, community groups and elected officials.
Renoviction is the term used when a landlord removes a tenant on the grounds of demolition, extensive repairs that require vacancy, or conversion of a unit to non-residential use. Advocates say landlords sometimes use those legal grounds in bad faith to displace low-rent tenants, either through formal eviction notices such as the Landlord and Tenant Board’s N13 form or through informal pressure that does not enter official records.
- By-law effective date: Jan. 1, 2027
- Municipal scope: Intended to add local protections against renovictions
- Advocacy timeline: Several years of community campaigning preceded the council vote
Disagreement over the scale of the problem
Estimates of how many renovictions occur in Ottawa vary widely. Community group ACORN compiled what it described as 650 confirmed renovictions between 2010 and 2025 by combining Landlord and Tenant Board filings with community-reported cases. That tally, ACORN says, captures many instances that never reach formal tribunal processes.
City staff, using different methods, identified a lower number: roughly 230 units across 40 addresses with possible undocumented renovictions since 2020. ACORN notes only a small fraction of community-tracked cases result in formal N13 filings — about 4.7% in its dataset — which it says helps explain the discrepancy.
| Source | Count | Period |
|---|---|---|
| ACORN | 650 cases | 2010–2025 |
| City staff | ~230 units at 40 addresses | since 2020 |
“Tenants are told they have no choice, are given misleading information, or are pressured to sign documents without understanding their rights,”
said David Longchamp, West End chair of Ottawa ACORN, describing why many renoviction cases may not appear in tribunal records. He and other advocates argue that once tenants are pressured into leaving, provincial protections can become difficult to use because the move appears voluntary on paper.
Provincial changes and outstanding demands
The municipal by-law follows changes at the provincial level: in April 2026 Ontario amended the Residential Tenancies Act to strengthen tenant protections for renovation-related evictions, including a minimum 60-day window to return to a unit. However, local advocacy groups say those provincial measures do not fully address the problem and have pushed the city to adopt additional municipal safeguards.
City council’s approval establishes a municipal framework aimed at discouraging bad-faith renovictions, but tenant groups continue to press for further measures such as mandatory compensation beyond existing provincial rules and stronger mechanisms to document and enforce bad-faith findings. With the by-law taking effect in 2027, affected renters and landlords will have several months to prepare for the new rules and for the city to develop accompanying processes and enforcement approaches.
Officials and advocacy groups will likely watch incoming data closely once the by-law is in force to assess its impact on eviction patterns and housing stability across Ottawa.
