TORONTO — Residents of a west-end Toronto apartment building say they will be going on a rent strike to protest the landlord’s application for a retroactive 2025 rent increase that would amount to more than five per cent.

Luz Flores, who lives at 75 Spencer Avenue in the Parkdale neighbourhood, said tenants cannot afford a 5.4 per cent increase and dozens are banding together to demand a fair deal from the landlord, MetCap Living.

Flores said she is joining the strike not only to fight for herself but to support other tenants who are mostly middle-class workers, seniors and retirees.

“We’re going through with withholding the rent payment … on March 1 until MetCap withdraws the above-guideline rent increase,” she said.

“The cost of living in Toronto is very expensive,” she added. “I have (other) bills to pay.”

The tenants are expected to gather in the lobby of the building Sunday afternoon to make the announcement.

The maximum allowable increase for rent-controlled buildings in Ontario was 2.5 per cent in 2025. But landlords can apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board for above-guidelines increases, or AGIs, to fund renovations and building improvements. The AGI is capped at three per cent annually.

MetCap Living has applied for a 2.9 per cent AGI for 2025, but a hearing date before the Landlord and Tenant Board has not been yet scheduled.

Fjoralba Jano, the building’s property manager, said MetCap will abide by the board’s final decision and will not collect the requested AGI amount from tenants before that – even though it has already included the increase in a notice sent to tenants.

Flores said her monthly rent was only $500 when she moved into her two-bedroom apartment more than two decades ago. That has since gone up to more than $1,200 — lower than market rent, but very high for her and most other people living there, she said.

She said a 5.4 per cent increase would cost her an additional $66 every month. The amount could be much higher for tenants who moved into the building in recent years, like Mahmoud Ahmed Abdellatif whose monthly rent is $2,180.

If the proposed hike is approved, his rent would increase by $117 monthly.

“That’s a lot of money. I’m not going to be able to afford (it),” he said.

Abdellatif said the living conditions in the mid-rise building are below “acceptable standards.”

Tenants say broken tiles, damaged wooden flooring, broken and old kitchen cabinets, and pests are among many issues they face daily and the landlord isn’t doing enough to resolve them.

“Where’s our rent and money that should be actually destined for fixing stuff in the building …. going, because we can’t see anything being fixed,” Abdellatif said.

But Jano, the property manager, said she is “unaware of any work orders being received from residents that are not in the process of being completed.”

“We are willing to repair ANY item that a resident feels may need repair in their unit,” she wrote in a statement.

The tenants argue the landlord has renovated the lobby and turned an office into a rental unit, and that those projects haven’t directly improved their living conditions so they shouldn’t have to cover the costs by way of a rent increase.

Jano said the company believes the cost of those renovations qualifies for an above-guideline rent increase under provincial law.

Tenants and activists are also worried that the landlord may apply for more above-guideline rent increases in the coming years, not only at 75 Spencer Avenue but at other buildings it owns in Parkdale.

Bryan Doherty, a member of the Parkdale Organize group that advocates for tenants, said the company is “testing the waters” to see if they face any pushback.

“What people at 75 Spencer recognized is that if (the landlord is) successful with this one, there’s literally nothing stopping them from applying for consecutive (AGIs),” he said.

Doherty said the cost of housing has already gone up considerably in recent years, and many tenants will face eviction if rents keep increasing.

Jano said this is the first time MetCap has applied for an AGI at 75 Spencer Avenue since it acquired the building 18 years ago, but didn’t rule out the possibility of more increases.

“As long as the AGI system is in place under the law in Ontario we may make a filing under that system if we feel it is appropriate,” she wrote.

She also said MetCap has its own relief program for residents who can’t afford the rent increase and they can apply for full or partial relief from AGI arrears and extend their payment terms. She said it is also connecting tenants with government resources to provide rental financial assistance.

There is a history of tenants withholding rent in Parkdale to protest against proposed increases, including a case involving MetCap.

In 2017, tenants in more than 300 units stopped paying rent after the company applied for above-guideline increases across five buildings, said Cole Webber, a community legal worker in the neighbourhood who helped organize tenants at the time.

He said MetCap came to the negotiating table and settled the dispute outside the Landlord and Tenant Board process, three months into the rent strike.

That collective action had a long-lasting impact in the neighbourhood, he said.

“MetCap refrained from applying for any above-guideline rent increases at its buildings in Parkdale for a number of years after that rent strike,” he said. “And there was an overall reluctance by other landlords in Parkdale to apply for AGIs after that.”

He said tenants in 38 units at the Spencer Avenue building have committed to withholding rent, which is a “super majority” of people living there.

Toronto has seen waves of rent strikes in recent years involving hundreds of tenants at buildings across the city.

In May 2023, around 100 residents of 71, 75 and 79 Thorncliffe Park Drive in East York went on a rent strike over a rent increase and deteriorating building conditions. Both parties reached what they described as an “amicable” deal in September.

Residents of 33 King Street and 22 John Street in Toronto’s west end withheld rent for 16 months before they reached an agreement with their landlord.

In the city’s north end, residents of 1440 and 1442 Lawrence Avenue West also stopped paying rent in October 2023, and won early concessions after the LTB ordered the landlord to fix the disrepairs in around 100 units in both buildings. The board also ordered the tenants to end their rent strike in August 2024.

The activists and tenants in Parkdale say they are optimistic about the latest rent hike pushback, given the history of successful rent strikes in that neighbourhood.

“The precedent is good,” said Doherty of Parkdale Organize. “There’s quite a bit of support and there’s going to be a high level of participation.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2026.

Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press