Establishing a tenant assocation
Tenants have a right to organize themselves and establish a tenant association. The Residential Tenancies Act clearly states that:
It is an offence to try to prevent a tenant from forming a tenants’ association or taking part in one.”
Under Section 23 of this Act you have a legal right to have your own tenant association. The landlord would be breaking the law and can be fined up to $25, 000 if the landlord obstructs you from organizing a tenant association in your building. You can check out the Residential Tenancies Act Offences for more detailed information on the violation of this law.
Tenants Association Organizing Guide – Tenants can obtain comprehensive information on how to establish tenants associations from the guide published by ONTARIO TENANTS RIGHTS. This publication is titled the Tenants Association Organizing Guide. It contains valuable information on how to establish and maintain a tenant association. The survival of your association will depend heavily on maintaining ongoing communications with tenants through newsletters, posting notices, phone calls, e-mails, etc.
You may find some helpful tips on how to establish ‘tenants associations’ at this link below: http://www.tenant.net/Organize/Lenox/lh-1.html
IMPORTANT NOTE: The “Tenants Association Organizing Guide” contains some cautions and also useful recommendations. For example:
a) Tenant associations should remain politically neutral. Political neutrality in your assocation will encourage greater participation of tenants across the political spectrum. Tenants should be aware that some individuals with a political agenda might use the association for political gain.
b) Be aware that some tenants in your building might be acting as spies for the landlord. These particular tenants might be employed to do odd jobs around the building for the landlord and therefore have a vested interest in destabilizing your attempts to organize. Some tenants might have a close relationship with the landlord and will pass information on to the landlord that will interfere with your efforts to establish your association.
NOTE - We would be pleased to list your website link after you have established your tenant association and launched your website. Contact us at: eastyorktenants@yahoo.ca
