A new landlord with about a dozen residential and commercial units in Kensington Market is threatening legal action if tenants balk at proposed rent hikes of up to 50 per cent.

At least 30 residents are being affected and seven people the Star spoke to say they feel intimidated by the new owner. John Rose, who lives at 38 Kensington Place, alleged the new owner’s staff entered one of the building’s suites without permission and removed the tenant’s belongings.

In an ugly dispute that some call the gentrification of the bohemian neighbourhood, CB Holdings owner Claude Bitton says it’s his staff who have been bullied, by tenants taking photos and videos and calling police whenever the staff members show up at his properties.

Police confirmed they have been called to 38 Kensington Place — one of five Kensington buildings Bitton owns — 12 times for landlord and tenant matters since the end of June. Tenants who have called the police say they were making trespassing complaints against Bitton’s staff members.

Bitton said he is just trying to negotiate new leases closer to market value with the tenants who choose to stay.

On June 28, Bitton bought the five properties — 38 Kensington Place, a low-rise building, and 25, 33 and 35 Kensington Ave., homes with apartments above retail shops, and a nearby gravel lot — as a power-of-sale purchase, which Bitton says meant he bought them sight unseen with no knowledge of the details of the leases.

Anders Yates, who lives at 35 Kensington with four roommates, said negotiations with CB Holdings have been less than polite.

Bitton said he mailed all his new tenants an information package the day after he bought the buildings, asking for ID and outlining details such as who to make future rent cheques payable to.

Yates says since then Bitton notified him and his four roommates that he wants to raise the rent by nearly 50 per cent to $3,500 — currently they pay $2350 a month — and that he would be willing to go to court to have it raised.

Yates said he believes the increase is not legitimate and says when he said that to Bitton, the landlord said he would consider the tenants to be trespassing if they didn’t start to pay the new higher rent Aug. 1.

Bitton later explained to the Star that he considers the tenants to be trespassing because he has not signed a lease with them. The tenants told the Star they have leases, some signed and some verbal agreements, with the former owner. Geordie Dent, executive director of the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Association, said that written, oral and implied rent contracts are legal.

“It’s not being threatening. It’s called being honest and upfront,” said paralegal Simon Hildyard, who represents Bitton.

“I would rather say to somebody, ‘Look, this is the potential and it could end up costing you. So instead of having it cost us and having it cost you, let’s meet somewhere and come to an amicable resolution.’ ”

Bitton said his company is still working to figure out who the units’ occupants are for insurance purposes. He said some of them are not co-operating, not providing ID or evidence of previous lease agreements and rent receipts.

On Aug. 1, five tenants who lived in one apartment moved out of 38 Kensington Place. Bitton said tenants in at least two other apartments told him they will leave by the end of the month.

The Star spoke to eight tenants who said they had already paid July rent to the former property manager, Ken Tsui. Bitton told the Star that Tsui did not forward the money to him.

The former property manager did not return multiple requests for comment from the Star.

In the meantime, Bitton and the tenants are trading allegations of trespassing.

The landlord maintains that, because he didn’t receive July rent, tenants who haven’t paid him are trespassing.

The tenants say that CB Holdings staff members have tried to enter their suites without the legally required 24-hours notice.

“I’m the new owner. I paid millions of dollars, and I’m trespassing in my own building?” said Bitton, adding that it is residents who have to demonstrate they’re entitled to be there: “‘You’re trespassing. You can’t prove to me you’re my tenant,’” he said.

Bitton’s paralegal Hildyard said the company hasn’t contacted the Landlord and Tenant Board about the broader rent issue yet because, without proper documents, it can’t confirm the people that staff spoke with are tenants.

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Hildyard said the company has submitted one application to the board, however, about a main floor unit at 38 Kensington Place, occupied by John Rose. CB Holdings says the suite isn’t zoned for residential use but is meant for recreational use, and Rose is trespassing.

Rose told the Star he had an agreement, before Bitton took ownership, with the unit’s previous tenant to live there starting Aug. 1. Bitton says his staff entered the unit July 22, believing the last tenant had abandoned the unit, to remove a piano and a mirror. Police intervened and stopped them after several neighbours called them, Rose and Bitton confirmed. Bitton said that he didn’t believe police had the right to stop them, but his staff complied.

“(Bitton) thinks he can intimidate people and bully them. And with me, it’s not the right tactic to take,” Rose said.

The Residential Tenancies Act regulates how much a landlord can raise rent. In 2016, that amount is two per cent for current tenants. But a higher rent increase can be granted through the Landlord and Tenant Board if a landlord proves he will be making significant changes to the building. If current tenants leave, however, the landlord can charge new tenants any amount.

Hildyard said landlords can also use the Mortgages Act to request a rent hike, but that would require going to Ontario Superior Court.

Kenneth Hale, a legal director of the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, said he understands that just the threat of legal action is enough to send some tenants packing. “When people are feeling vulnerable in their homes — it’s a very difficult thing for tenants to prove,” Hale said.

“I think the most important thing is that the tenants stand their ground. They’re in possession. They can close the door and tell him to go away,” he said.

The provincial ministry of housing’s Investigation and Enforcement Unit confirmed it has contacted Bitton and is investigating a rental unit on Kensington Ave., but they wouldn’t comment on specifics during the investigation.

Residents and neighbours fear Bitton will redevelop the properties solely for commercial use. But he said he loves the neighbourhood and his family has a long history there.

“I’m not intending to build any highrise, and I cannot build (whatever) I want. It’s whatever the city will allow for zoning and planning and all that. So they need not worry about building high density or anything of the sort,” Bitton said.

On Aug. 1, the community group Friends of Kensington Market organized a public barbecue to rally around the tenants. Yates teared up as he talked about the groundswell of support.

“It’s just amazing to see people standing up to something like this and banding together,” he said. “I have to stick with these people and keep up the fight because that (support) is not something you find easily in a big city like this. So no, we’re not going anywhere.”

Maggie Helwig, a member of the Friends of Kensington Market community group and a priest at Church of Saint Stephen-in-the-Fields, called the situation a “really extreme and ugly example” of the gentrification of the area.

“The positive side of this is that this is a real community,” she said.