rent_controls

Rent controls for condos?
In 2013
Mike Harris made some changes to the rent control legislation. One change was to make all units constructed after 01 November 1991 entirely exempt from rent control, other than to restrict rental rate increases to once a year.

Unlike tenants who rent in older buildings, who's annual rent increase is set by the government, if the unit was built after October 1991, landlords can raise the rent to whatever level they can get.

By the way, it is the tenant that is protected by rent controls, not the apartment. Whenever a tenant moves out, the landlord can raise the rent for the next tenant to whatever level the market will bare.

For the foreseeable future, the huge stock of new condos being constructed should help keep rent increases in check.

Bring back rent controls?

NDP position
In the spring of 2013, the Ontario NDP introduced a private members bill which was intended to introduce rent controls to all rental units in Ontario.

Cindy Forster, the NDP’s municipal affairs and housing critic, stated:

“When a tenant in Ontario is forced out of their home by an arbitrary rent increase, the system is not working,” she said on Tuesday. “Closing this rent increase loophole is an important step in making housing more affordable in Ontario and ensuring fair protection for all tenants.”

What loophole?
There is no loophole. All renters in newer buildings are not covered by rent controls by deliberate policy, not by landlords finding an unintended "loophole".

Getting rid of rent controls on new properties created a boom in condo construction with as many as 50-90% of downtown condo units in some condominiums being rented by small-time investors and by companies owning large blocks of units.

Dustbin of history
As far as Ontario goes, rent controls—like collective farming and other failed socialist policies—is a non-starter. Only the NDP want to re-introduce them.

Conservatives
The Conservatives are opposed to rent controls.

Liberals
The Liberals agree. Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Linda Jeffrey said this in a statement at the end of April 2013:

"The post-1991 rent exemption was originally introduced – and has been maintained over time – as an incentive for private landlords to build new rental accommodation. This incentive not only helps to renew the rental housing stock but also creates jobs in the construction sector.

As such, any changes to this incentive could have an adverse effect on the rental housing sector, the economy and job creation."