A number of long-time Parkdale tenants are alleging that their relatively new building owner is deliberately delaying repairs in a bid to get them to move so that the company can increase the rent.

“They don’t fix anything,” said Austin Chan, who has long complained about mould in his bathroom, a malfunctioning freezer and chipped kitchen countertops in his 188 Jameson Ave. apartment.

“Now we’re frustrated. Now it looks like they don’t care.”

The owner, Akelius Canada, says it has almost made it through the backlog of repairs, and denies it has any intention to push anyone out.

A branch of one of Sweden’s largest property groups, Akelius Canada jumped into on the Toronto apartment market over two years ago. It is currently the most aggressive landlord buying up and then turning around old rental properties in the city, say industry insiders and tenants’ advocates.

“They are generally taking older buildings in established neighbourhoods and re-investing in them at a rate that is significantly more than the average Canadian investor,” said Derek Lobo of Rock Advisors, an apartment brokerage firm.

Founded in 1994, Akelius owns 42,811 apartment units in Canada, the U.K., Germany and Sweden, according to its most recent quarterly report. Akelius brought in $828 million Swedish kronor ($129 million Canadian) in rental income in the first three months this year, with a profit of $155 million kronor ($24 million Canadian). It made a profit of $2.4 billion kronor ($380 million Canadian) last year.

While the company owns about three dozen rental properties in Toronto totalling close to 1,600 units in neighbourhoods as diverse as East York, Church and Wellesley and Forest Hill, it is in Parkdale, home to four Akelius buildings, where tension has reached the tipping point.

Parkdale Community Legal Services has scheduled a meeting on Wednesday for residents to share their concerns. The organization says it has received complaints from Akelius tenants across the city.

At 188 Jameson Ave., a 54-year-old grey-brick, eight-storey building, 12 of the 47 apartments have been transformed into what Akelius calls “first-class” units. Photos show polished wooden floors, stainless steel kitchen sinks and bright porcelain bathroom amenities. A bachelor suite goes for about $1,100 a month, while a one-bedroom can cost up to $1,500.

It’s more than what most of the long-time tenants, who live in the other 35, less glamorous units, can pay. These tenants are primarily Tibetan, some with poor English skills. A few are elderly, others are students with part-time jobs.

On average, those in older bachelors say they pay about $700 a month. One such tenant is Dorjee Tsering, 61, who lives with his 22-year-old son, Namdol. He says he has been complaining about broken wooden floorboards leading to his kitchen for the last six to seven months, but that nothing has been done. He tries to keep the boards in place with black tape.

“I don’t want anyone to trip,” he said. “I don’t feel comfortable. It looks like something is not right, that something is not clean. And I have seen cockroaches.”

Allegations of various landlords trying to get rid of old tenants so that they can raise rents date back to at least the 1990s, when Mike Harris’ provincial government amended tenancy laws and the term “vacancy decontrol” was introduced. That policy allows landlords to increase the rent on a newly vacated unit, said Kenneth Hale, director of advocacy and legal services at the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario.

“Vacancy decontrol is creating the incentive to abuse people,” he said. “If that financial incentive wasn’t there, then there would be no reason to force people out, and landlords would have to work with them to improve the properties and everybody would be happy.”

While it can be costly to leave a place long considered home, some tenants have felt they had no other choice. Dadon (her full name), 48, moved into an apartment on the second floor at 188 Jameson a year and a half ago, and had every intention of making it her home for the rest of her life.

She said problems began last year after water damage due to a fire upstairs ruined her floors and many of her possessions. Dadon said her pleas to the landlord went unanswered.

While going before the Landlord and Tenant Board could have been an option, she said she didn’t understand enough English to navigate the process. So in March, she moved out. “All of my friends are here, I didn’t want to move,” she said. “My friends are telling me that everyone is scared right now.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Akelius Canada asset manager Ben Scott said he could not comment on specific issues, but said that Akelius has completed 94 per cent of the 573 work orders it has received in Parkdale since it took over management of its properties in May. (Prior to this spring, Akelius had a third-party company manage its buildings.)

He denied that there is a movement afoot to get rid of anyone.

“Our plan includes the long-term tenants,” he said. “The reason we’re performing these repairs in the first place is because Akelius intends to be a long-term presence in Toronto. We’re buying these buildings that have maintenance needs and we’re taking care of them right away.”