City of Brantford invites residents to talk about rental housing experiences

BRANTFORD, ON – The City of Brantford invites renters and landlords in Brantford to share their rental housing experiences through an online survey. The information collected will help inform recommendations on how the City can address current rental challenges and shape future policies to support rental housing in Brantford.

Residents who rent at privately-owned residential units, as well as landlords and property management companies acting on their behalf, are invited to share their insight and ask questions at LetsTalkBrantford.ca/RentalHousing until November 14, 2025. The responses collected will help inform a report to City Council to consider potential municipal tools to better protect and support rental housing within the community.

City staff are exploring a range of municipal tools aimed to better protect rental housing within the community. The goal is to identify approaches that support housing stability for tenants while remaining sustainable for landlords and rental property owners. Some of the tools being reviewed, include:

• Possible financial incentives that could offer grants or tax relief to property to landlords/rental property owners for upgrades and improvements to existing rental units or to build more rental and/ or affordable rental units.
• Rental licensing or registration programs that require landlords/rental property owners to get a license or register their rental properties with the city, often to ensure compliance with safety and maintenance standards.
• Rental protection (or rental replacement) by-laws, a tool used to protect existing rental housing and support displaced tenants when properties with 6 or more existing residential units are proposed to be demolished or converted to another use. Often these circumstances are triggered by a proposal to redevelop a property.
• Rental renovation licensing by-law and programs that would require landlords/rental property owners to obtain a license when undertaking major repairs to a rental unit that requires tenants to move out. The goal of this tool is to make sure that the rules of the Residential Tenancies Act are followed and to potentially provide increased supports for displaced tenants.

The rights and responsibilities of residential tenants are outlined in Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c 17 and apply to most privately-owned residential rental units. To learn more about what these rights and responsibilities include, such as rent increase limits, eviction rules, leases, etc., visit Ontario.ca/RentingInOntario-YourRights. For more information about how to get support as a tenant or landlord of a privately-owned rental unit, contact the Landlord Tenant Board.

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Media Contact:

City of Brantford Communications and Community Engagement

519-759-4150 | communications@brantford.ca