Tenants across Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood plan to continue withholding their rent from one of the city’s largest property managers, for a second month.

But by Monday, the initial wave of protesting tenants will have missed the first deadline to pay what they owe, and the landlord can legally apply to have them evicted.

The rent strike, as it has been called, is taking place in apartments owned and managed by MetCap Living Management Inc.

The first round of rent strikers numbered about 200 people, organizers say.

By mid-May about 215 people in MetCap buildings in Parkdale had received a notice informing them that if they failed to pay what they owed by Sunday their landlord could apply to evict them and take them before the Landlord and Tenant Board.

But board hearings can take weeks, and tenants do have the option to pay up until the last minute. But if the adjudicator orders the tenant to pay and they do not do so, an eviction could take place.

Despite the threat of eviction their numbers have grown and this month an estimated 300 to 400 tenants living in 12 buildings are expected to withhold June rent, according to a legal clinic advising tenants.

MetCap president and chief executive officer Brent Merrill, who provided the number of people who received notices, says he has no way of knowing how many of the 215 are taking part in the tenant action, or if they missed paying for other reasons. That number of notices is not unusual or high for any given month, he says.

The company manages about 20,000 units across the country, he says.

Tenants have also marched, occupied a lobby and stairwell outside of a MetCap office and protested outside of the offices of the Landlord and Tenant Board and Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo).

The fund manager is part owner of 14 MetCap buildings in Parkdale, Merrill said.

Tenants describe their actions as a last-ditch effort to draw attention to buildings they say are dirty and need repairs, and where low-income tenants are struggling to manage repeated and unfair increases in rent.

Merrill said he has made multiple efforts to manage the cleaning and maintenance issues, including setting up a hotline for tenants to make complaints and the rent hikes are fair and needed to fund capital repairs.

He has also reached out to Parkdale Community Legal Services, a legal clinic representing tenants, to arrange a meeting with legal workers and building residents, he says.

“We are committed to keeping an open mind on all discussions and are hopeful that we can reach a mutually acceptable solution,” Merrill wrote in an email Thursday. He says he will also meet one-on-one with tenants who feel a rent increase jeopardizes their housing, but if people continue to withhold rent he will follow the law and pursue eviction.

Legal clinic staffer Cole Webber says “in order to meet in good faith MetCap must commit to withdrawing its applications for rent increases above the Ontario guideline at its buildings in Parkdale and agree to a freeze on such rent increases for a period of time into the future.”

“This is what the tenants have been calling for all along and (the legal clinic) will continue to support the tenants’ demands,” wrote Webber, in a statement.

Rising tensions around the Parkdale rent strike resulted in a man nearly being run over, after he stepped in front of a moving pickup truck driven by Merrill on Tuesday.

Video of the incident shows tenant advocate Kevin Laforest, his hands on the hood, rapidly back-peddling and jumping to the side, before rolling across the asphalt.

Merrill said was in the area to pick up a frightened property manager being chased by protestors.

Laforest said he was trying to speak with Merrill and the property manager about senior tenants who live on Tyndall, asking they be moved to another unit during two days of painting, or that the building owner cover the costs for a motel.

Tenant and rent strike participant Alykhan Pabani, 33, has lived at 87 Jameson Ave. for five years. For Pabani and fellow tenants a key issue is what are known as above-guideline rent increases, or rent hikes landlords can legally apply for to cover costs such as major repairs.

Those increases, advocates argue, are often used to squeeze out lower income tenants so landlords can jack up the rent.

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At 87 Jameson, the rent could rise 3 per cent, each year for three years, if the latest application being heard before the Landlord and Tenant Board is approved.

Pabani said some of the tenants are worried about eviction, but organizers have educated people on their rights.

“The process of eviction is also a process. It is not something that can happen overnight,” he says.