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Due to her ignorance in tenant law, Dunkley-Johnson said the owner had her sign a month-to-month lease, leaving her with little tenant rights.

“I was bullied into signing it,” she said. “If I had known my rights, I never would have signed it.”

The manager of the building is Haynes’ daughter, Ashley, and she made the decision to evict Dunkley-Johnson.

Low-income housing advocate Jean Swanson said Haynes’ use of fix-term leases is deplorable as it victimizes those who need help most.

“It means residents can be evicted for no reason,” she said. “It is a way to escape the provisions of the Residential Tenancy Act.”

With the hefty rent increases, Swanson said tenants were told to go to Carnegie outreach to get help with a rent subsidy.

“Carnegie outreach is not giving rent subsidies,” she said.

And she said the tenants were coerced into signing the fixed-term deals for fear of being put out on the street.

“Many who signed did not know what they were about,” she said of the agreement.

Among those told his rent was being raised beyond his ability to pay was Michael Desbiens. His rent has been bumped from $500 to $660 — a challenge, as he gets a monthly social-assistance cheque of $610. He too was forced to sign a fixed-term lease.

Desbiens said he had to sign or he was out on the street.

“It is either sign it or stay in a homeless shelter,” he said.

Added tenant Humberto Macias-Carraso, 54, who recently had a stroke and is unable to read the fine print on a contract as he’s nearly blind, he was told he had to sign the fixed-term deal despite not being able to see what he was signing.