Parkdale landlord agrees to some tenant demands, but eviction threat looms

More than 200 tenants fighting eviction from their Parkdale apartment building have earned a small victory one month into their protest.

MetCap Living President Brent Merrill has agreed to a list of demands from the protesters including compensating a couple for three nights’ stay in a hotel while their unit is renovated.

Merrill has also apologized to a tenant whom he almost ran over with his truck on Tuesday. The tenant was delivering a letter on behalf of the couple when the incident occurred.

The gestures have done little to dissuade tenants. Thursday will mark one month since they began a rent strike against MetCap over unfair rent increases and claims their buildings are in disrepair.

Notices have been sent out to residents, explaining they have until June 4 to balance their accounts or the eviction process will begin.

“No, I won’t be paying. I’m still continuing the rent strike” said a tenant named Barb.

“We’ve been in touch with city councilman Gord Perks, MPP Cheri DiNovo knows about us and our MP Arif Virani is also very supportive of our efforts to deal with MetCap.”

“It’s not really my call, but if [the province] wanted to mediate, that would be great. We need to come together on these issues and work out a solution.”

Meanwhile, Merrill said MetCap plans to meet with Parkdale Community Legal Services, the tenants’ advisors, to come to some “reasonable accommodation.”

“We’ll be following the process that we normally do, and at the same time we’ve reached out to Parkdale Legal,” he said.

When asked whether MetCap would be willing to lower the rent increase, Merrill left the door open.

“We’re willing to listen to everything and try to come to a positive solution on this,” he said.

Residents will be holding a protest on Saturday outside MetCap’s head office, and local teachers and students plan to join the rally next week.