Proposed bill would extend hike protection to newer units in Ontario

TORONTO -- Tenants who rent newer units in Ontario would get the same price hike protections as other renters under an NDP private member's bill to be tabled next week.

Meanwhile, Ontario Housing Minister Chris Ballard says his staff are "already developing a plan to address unfair rises in rental costs by delivering substantive rent control reform in Ontario as part of an ongoing review of the Residential Tenancies Act."

Currently, annual rent increase caps apply to residential buildings or units constructed before November 1991.

This year the rent for those tenants could be increased by up to 1.5 per cent without the landlord applying to the Landlord and Tenant Board.

New Democrat Peter Tabuns says those rules put tenants in newer units in a precarious position.

He will table a private member's bill Monday that would eliminate the 1991 "loophole" and extend rent protection to all Ontarians.