Sarnia city council to consider licensing system to curb bad faith renovictions

A comprehensive municipal investigation into rental exploitation has prompted city staff to recommend a phased landlord licensing system following extensive public feedback. The proposed framework aims to close regional enforcement gaps and protect local affordable housing stocks from bad faith eviction tactics.

Sarnia City Council will consider a new licensing system aimed at protecting vulnerable residents from bad faith evictions following a month-long public consultation process that highlighted systemic breakdowns in provincial landlord-tenant tribunals.

The proposed framework will require landlords to secure a specialized municipal Rental Unit Repair Licence before issuing an N13 eviction notice for major structural modifications.

The local initiative follows a multi-year effort by the municipality to address housing instability, which began with a September 2021 council resolution requesting that the Government of Ontario take additional and meaningful steps to address the ever increasing problem of renovictions.

After receiving no provincial response, council tracked emerging municipal frameworks across the province, culminating in a February 2026 directive to draft a local enforcement model.

If approved, Sarnia would become the fourth municipality in Ontario to regulate the renovation eviction process through direct local licensing, following Hamilton, London, and Toronto.

Under the proposed terms, landlords will be prohibited from executing evictions under the guise of extensive repairs unless they first obtain a municipal building permit and submit a certified report from a licensed professional engineer or architect proving that vacant possession is absolutely necessary.

Local advocacy groups have warned staff to learn from regional operational failures, pointing to a structural loophole in the City of London’s business licensing model where corporate landlords bypassed rental repair regulations by applying for full building demolitions or commercial space conversions rather than standard apartment repairs.

To secure local housing stocks, Sarnia’s regulations will enforce a strict unit-by-unit registry modelled after London's schedule rather than a broad complex-wide licence, forcing corporate entities to justify the displacement of tenants on a unit-by-unit basis.

A public survey conducted on www.thesarniajournal.ca and the Speak Up Sarnia platform between April 24 and May 22, 2026, drew responses from 201 unique participants, revealing that 57.3 per cent of respondents believe current provincial legislation heavily favours landlords.

The data compiled by city staff indicates that most local residents believe tenants do not fully understand their rights, leaving them exposed to aggressive corporate displacement tactics.

Tenant advocacy organizations, including the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), submitted formal letters strongly endorsing the municipal rules, noting that for every single affordable housing unit constructed in Ontario, eleven are lost to the private market.

ACTO highlighted past corporate displacements within the municipality, writing that "this by-law is exceptionally urgent, and the municipality cannot afford to miss this opportunity to protect its housing supply and the overall well-being of its residents."

The push for municipal intervention is driven by systemic enforcement failures at the provincial Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB), where displaced residents regularly face backlogs of up to two years to resolve tenant rights applications.

Furthermore, provincial records reveal the LTB has proven ineffective at deterring predatory behaviour, issuing only thirteen fines for bad faith evictions across Ontario since 2020, with only four landlords actually paying those penalties.

Sarnia typically receives between one and two formal complaints per year regarding potential bad faith evictions, though municipal staff previously lacked the legislative authority to verify or investigate the underlying circumstances of the displacements.

City staff recommend a phased implementation strategy to mitigate immediate administrative costs and avoid the upfront expenses of building a comprehensive Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS).

The initial phase will establish a licensing-only by-law with a proposed fee of $750 per unit, valid for a period of 180 days from the date of issuance.

Staff intend to monitor the implementation and enforcement costs of the licence for one year before returning to council with a cost analysis regarding a full AMPS framework, which would enable escalating non-compliance penalties ranging from $500 to $5,000.