Congratulations to Margaret Herd, this year’s winner of the Sam Grossman Award of Excellence. It was great to see her onstage and hear her acceptance speech. Margaret is an inspiration to our industry, and a role model to many. In keeping with great moments, Margaret was presented the award after a rousing introduction by Laura Holland. An apropos moment with two leaders in our sector. Yes, they’re both women, so that made is more special. But even if they weren’t, the moment was extraordinary.
Thank you to Laura Holland, who recently ended her term as GTAA’s Chair. In fact, she was Chair for two terms (four years). The pandemic caused havoc and included the cancellation of gatherings and events. But the core of what GTAA does is policy work. Laura was always front and centre at our meetings with municipal government officials – Mayors, politicians, and various senior level bureaucrats. Many other industry peers, especially Directors on GTAA’s Board, also actively promote our interests on a regular basis by attending these meetings. This is on top of their daily responsibilities, and their effort is greatly appreciated.
Our recent Annual Dinner included a celebratory toast for our 25th Anniversary. Joining me on stage for the festivities were: Brad Butt, GTAA’s first fulltime President; Sam Grossman, GTAA’s first Chair; and Laura Holland, current Chair. The audience included many who have been with us since the beginning in 1998. Many who joined us along the way. And lots of new faces –these were a combination of young people at longstanding GTAA Members, and from the many companies that recently joined our association. This breadth and diversity brings a balance of knowledge and fresh ideas.
Thanks for being a part of our journey. We’ll work together to promote our interests to generally unsympathetic politicians – who often do the ‘vote thing’ instead of the ‘right thing’.
The future looks extremely promising, and we look forward to the next 25 years working with you.
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Urbanation publishes quarterly UrbanRental Reports detailing development in the Greater Toronto Area (and beyond). Per these reports, 26 new rental buildings opened in 2023. These added 5,543 brand new suites to our purpose-built rental (“PBR”) inventory. 2023 doubled the region’s output in 2022, where 2,750 units were opened in 16 new apartment buildings.
The openings in 2023 were the highest single year total since the rental boom of the 1960s-1970s. But some of 2023’s output was the clearing of lingering delays due to the pandemic.
To put in proper perspective, the 5-year average of new openings is 2,625 units in Toronto, and only 833 units per year in the 905 belt immediately surrounding Toronto (does not include Hamilton). A decent year, but still chronically low. Recall that in 2022, only 10 new rental building opened in Toronto, totalling 1,486 suites, and 6 buildings with 1,259 units in the rest of the GTA. While in 2021, there were 2,800 new units housed in 9 new rental buildings in Toronto, and merely 2 with just 347 units in the surrounding area.
The ever-increasing cost of ownership coupled to the demand for housing that supports massive new immigration targets means that purpose-built rental housing is in huge demand. The crux of our housing supply shortage is more than four decades of insignificant development of PBR.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
VANCOUVER
Lance Coulson***
Executive Vice President lance.coulson@cbre.com 604. 662. 5141
VANCOUVER
Greg Ambrose* Vice President greg.ambrose@cbre.com
604. 662. 5178
EDMONTON
David Young*
Executive Vice President dave.young@cbre.com 780. 917. 4625
EDMONTON
Thomas Chibri* Vice President thomas.chibri@cbre.com 780. 424. 5475
CALGARY
Richie Bhamra*
Executive Vice President richie.bhamra@cbre.com 403. 303. 4569
TORONTO
David Montressor* Vice Chairman
TORONTO
Tom Schuster*
Associate Director tom.schuster@cbre.com 416. 847. 3257
WATERLOO
Martin Cote* Vice President martin.cote@cbre.com
519. 340. 2317
david.montressor@cbre.com 416. 815. 2332 LONDON
Kevin MacDougall** Vice President kevin.macdougall@cbre.com 519. 286. 2013
OTTAWA
Nico Zentil* Executive Vice President nico.zentil@cbre.com 613. 788. 2708
Scan to receive Apartment Listings and Market Research
HALIFAX
Robert
HALIFAX
Chris
The following table is from Urbanation’s four quarterly UrbanRental reports lists 2023’s PBR openings across the GTA.
New is 20-years old (since 2003), and the following table (courtesy of Urbantion) shows the size of the new inventory and the Q4 vacancy rates year-over-year. Former Toronto is the old City of Toronto prior to amalgamation, generally known as downtown. Outer 416 are the former pre-amalgamation municipalities (including North York, Etobicoke and Scarborough). GTA 905 is the immediate area surrounding Toronto (excludes Hamilton).
It’s difficult to draw trends due to the relatively small number of new buildings each year. There is considerable annual fluctuation, and whenever a significant increase occurs it is misconstrued as a boom or a rental renaissance. While Toronto saw 2.6X more new units in 2023 versus 2022, there was a correspondingly sharp 50% decrease in 2022 versus 2021. Even the biggest year in the past few decades pales when compared to almost any year in the mid-1960s to mid-1970s.
We need more purpose-built rental supply.
Ontario’s multi-residential sector remains one of the most resilient segments of commercial real estate capital markets. Notwithstanding market volatility over the last 18 months, investor sentiment for multifamily assets remains strong. At the onset of 2024, values have weathered the impact of higher borrowing costs and are well-positioned to counteract higher interest rates through recurring income growth. Please see below for a summary of recent deals and active listings as of Q1 2024.
For additional info on cap rates, valuations, and market trends in the current investment landscape, please reach out to a member of the CBRE National Apartment Group.
Park Vista Apartments
Toronto, Ontario
4 Properties | 370 Units
ACTIVE LISTING
2300 Marine Drive, Oakville, Ontario
47 Suites | $438,298 per Suite
Closed December 2023
SOLD FOR: $20,600,000
For more information, please contact:
David Montressor * Vice Chairman
(416) 815-2332
david.montressor@cbre.com
* Sales Representative 2
Scan to receive
Tom Schuster * Associate Director
(416) 847-3257
tom.schuster@cbre.com
Apartment Listings and Market Research
Premier Niagara Region Apartment Portfolio Welland, Ontario
5 Properties | 427 Units
ACTIVE LISTING
3385 Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario
131 Units | $671,756 Per Suite
Closed January 2024
SOLD FOR: $88,000,000
After months of back-and-forth with the City of Toronto’s Legal Department, they have updated the Vital Services Disruption Plan Form and the companion Guidance Document. Recall that GTAA won the legal application a year ago, so many of the previous requirements are no longer mandatory.
The preamble/background introduction paragraph on the Form states:
“This form includes standards and minimum requirements in Sections 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 that must be provided along with some optional services you may provide but are not required to provide [see items marked as “OPTIONAL” in sections 5 and 6]. Owners/operators must begin implementing the Vital Service Disruption Plan once they have identified an unplanned vital service disruption.”
The City’s Guidance Document states (starting at the bottom of page 1) the following:
“The Vital Services Disruption Plan also includes optional provisions Section 5 (drinking water, kitchen access and other) and Section 6 (lodging, drinking water, food, clothing and personal items).”
GTAA strongly recommends that you use the updated form and write “NONE” in the Optional sections. Here are scans of the updated VSDP Form:
Heat
Confirm that the owner/operator will provide tenants with resources to safely heat their units to a minimum temperature of 21 degrees between September 15 and June 1 within 24 hours of the disruption onset during periods where electricity and/or gas are not available (at the expense of the owner/operator). Note: the installation of some temporary generators or heating devices may require approval of the Electrical Safety Authority or the Technical Standards
Fire Safety Plan
Confirm that the owner/operator will continue to meet all obligations under the Ontario Fire Code and implement the necessary provisions of the approved Fire Safety Plan.
Building Security
Confirm that the owner/operator will secure the premises in the event that a vital service disruption has an impact on normal day-to-day security measures.
Drinking Water (Optional)
If the owner/operator chooses to provide tenants with drinking water within 24 hours of a disruption onset where water has been discontinued (at the expense of the owner/ operator) please specify.
Kitchen access (may include access to operating appliances and/or hot meals, meal vouchers, or food)
(Optional) If the owner/operator chooses to provide tenants with access to operating cooking and refrigeration appliances and/or food, such as hot meals and/or meal vouchers within 24 hours of the disruption onset (at the expense of the owner/operator) please specify.
Other Provisions (Optional)
Describe any other provisions that the owner/operator chooses to provide (for example access to generators, blankets, and bathing facilities).
Yes
Specify how:
Yes
Specify how:
Yes
Specify how:
Indicate what, if any, services will be provided to tenants:
Indicate what, if any, services will be provided to tenants:
Indicate what, if any, services will be provided to tenants:
Fire Safety Plan
Confirm that the owner/operator shall continue to meet all obligations under the Ontario Fire Code and implement the necessary provisions of the approved Fire Safety Plan.
Building Security
Confirm that the owner/operator shall secure the premises in the event that a vital service disruption has an impact on normal day-to-day security measures
Unit Access
Provided that it is safe to enter the apartment building, confirm that tenants will be granted with access to their unit:
• for a minimum of one hour within two weeks after an evacuation order; and
• for a minimum of one hour every four weeks thereafter.
Lodging (Optional)
If the owner/operator chooses to provide tenants with appropriate lodging within 24 hours of the disruption onset (at the expense of the owner/operator) please specify.
Drinking Water (Optional)
If the owner/operator chooses to provide tenants with drinking water within 24 hours of a disruption onset where water has been discontinued (at the expense of the owner/ operator) please specify.
Food (may include hot meals, meal vouchers, and/or kitchen access) (Optional)
If the owner/operator chooses to provide tenants with food, such as hot meals, meal vouchers, and/or access to a kitchen (including access to operating cooking and refrigeration appliances) within 24 hours of the disruption onset, please specify.
Clothing (Optional)
If the owner/operator chooses to provide this service, specify how tenants will access clothing in the event they do not have access to their units.
Personal Items (Optional)
If the owner/operator chooses to provide this service, specify how tenants will access personal items such as toiletries.
Yes
Specify how:
Yes
Specify how:
Yes
Specify how:
Indicate what, if any, services will be provided to tenants:
Indicate what, if any, services will be provided to tenants:
Indicate what, if any, services will be provided to tenants:
Indicate what, if any, services will be provided to tenants:
Indicate what, if any, services will be provided to tenants:
It is always best to obtain original forms from the original source. Expand the Vital Service Disruption Response section to download the Form and the Guidance document from Toronto’s webpage: Here
In December 2023, Toronto Council adopted a new by-law that requires owners of large and mediumsized buildings to report building energy and water use data to the City, annually. It will be identical to the provincial Energy and Water Reporting and Benchmarking (EWRB) program that currently requires buildings above 50,000 square feet to report their performance data on an annual basis; except Toronto will expand it to medium-sized buildings that are more than 929 m2 (approximately 10,000 ft2). A typical multiresidential property with 15 average-sized units would likely reach this gross floor threshold. In addition to apartments, Toronto’s by-law includes buildings from the commercial, institutional and industrial sectors.
Toronto will align their reporting deadlines to match the Province’s. In Toronto, buildings with gross floor areas of 4,645 m2 (50,000 ft2) will be required to report on July 1, 2024. Buildings that are more than 929 m2 (10,000 ft2) will start reporting on July 1, 2025. This additional year provides the city with time to educate building owners and streamline their internal process.
According to the City, existing buildings are Toronto’s largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for approximately 58% of total community-wide emissions. Toronto’s Net Zero Existing Buildings Strategy focuses on reducing emissions from existing buildings with the ultimate target of achieving net zero emissions by 2040, and an interim target of cutting emissions nearly in half by 2030, relative to 2008 levels.
The City further states that, “The impacts of the proposed By-law on property owners are nonmonetary in nature. The cost associated with reporting stems from the time required to gather energy and water data and enter it into the City’s reporting tool. This is a relatively small time-commitment, estimated at a few hours of time annually, per building. A potential side effect of the Emissions Performance Reporting By-law could yield a possible energy cost savings by encouraging property owners to more closely track and better manage their buildings’ energy and water use.”
Driven by the old management adage “you can’t manage what you don’t measure” Toronto’s and Ontario’s required tracking, benchmarking, and reporting energy use is the first step towards better managing energy use and energy operating costs, and to improving building efficiency and energy and emissions performance.
Emissions performance reporting will impact owners of buildings that range different types of property owners, from corporate owners of large commercial and multi-residential real-estate portfolios to smaller corporate owners to single individuals who may own only one or a few buildings. The city claims to understand that the introduction of the proposed By-law will have different impacts on these different types of property owners and anticipate that property owners with smaller buildings will face greater challenges than property owners with larger buildings because property owners with smaller buildings likely have fewer resources to dedicate to reporting and less previous experience with building emissions performance reporting, while property owners with larger buildings are likely already reporting similar data.
To facilitate the reporting process for property owners with smaller buildings and mitigate the time impact associated with reporting, Toronto’s Environment & Climate Division staff have created several resources to assist property owners, including:
• A series of step-by-step instructional videos to educate and assist property owners with the process of entering their data into the reporting tool and submitting emissions performance reports for their buildings;
• Written documents summarizing the reporting process;
• A dedicated email address where property owners can ask questions and reach out for support.
Environment & Climate Division staff also intend to take the following actions during By-law implementation to further mitigate impacts on property owners:
• Procure the services of a dedicated Help Centre to provide property owners with assistance and support during the reporting process;
• Work with water, electricity and natural gas utilities to make reporting easier by enabling direct upload of data.
The City estimates approximately 5,800 property owners will be affected, who own approximately a total of 16,100 buildings. Of this total, 7,500 buildings are already required to report (larger than 4,645m2) via obligation under Province’s O.Reg. 506/18: Reporting
Here’s a detailed breakdown:
Toronto intends to use Energy Star Portfolio Manager which was developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and modified for use in Canada by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), and already used in Ontario for EWRB.
Property owners that will be required to submit report information under Toronto’s By-law and the Province’s Energy and Water Reporting and Benchmarking (EWRB) program will be able to do so with minimal additional effort. Rather than entering the report information for their building multiple times, a property owner will simply create a single profile for their building in the Energy Star Portfolio Manager reporting tool, and then click on one link to report their information to the Province, and another link to report their information to the City. As such, reporting to the City of Toronto adds negligible additional burden to property owners who are already required to report their information for their buildings under EWRB.
GTAA will provide a webinar for small building owners who are unfamiliar with the reporting requirements. Members will be notified well in advance of the July 2025 deadline.
Our 2023 Annual General Meeting was very well attended as Members arrived early to hear our Chair’s annual summary and the Treasurer’s report. Our digital Annual Report was electronically distributed and our audited financial statements were mailed to each member, well in advance. The meeting commenced on time, ran smoothly and was informative.
Seven nominations were received by the advertised closing at 3 PM on September 19, 2023 for Director positions on our Board.
CONGRATULATIONS to the following GTAA Members who have joined our Board of Directors for a three-year term (November 2023 – October 2026):
• Cora Armstrong – Schickedanz Bros. Properties
• George Espinola – Medallion Corporation
• Perry Fryers – WJ Properties
• Yehudi Hendler – Y.L. Hendler Ltd.
• Jordan Rose – Glen Corporation
• Gloria Salomon – DBS Developments
• Paul Smith – DMS Property Management Ltd
At the first Board of Directors meeting of the new term held on October 24, 2023, the Executive Committee members, Standing Committee Chairs, and Charitable Foundation Board were selected.
Left to right:
Perry Fryers
Cora Armstrong – 2nd Vice Chair
Yehudi Hendler – Treasurer
Laura Holland – Past Chair
Martin Tovey
Gloria Salomon
Justin Taylor – Chair
Absent form photo
Kris Boyce – 1st Vice Chair
Paul Smith – Secretary
Margaret Herd (Park Property Management) – Chair
Peter Altobelli (Yardi Systems)
Daryl Chong (GTAA)
Perry Fryers (WJ Properties)
Bert C Grant (Lawrence Construction Company)
Yehudi Hendler (Y.L. Hendler Ltd.)
Justin Taylor (Greenrock Realty Advisors)
The Greater Toronto Apartment Association has five standing committees that deal with a variety of matters that are of great importance to the apartment industry and to our members. Members join these committees to participate more actively in the decision making of the GTAA. Each committee has a specific role and being part of it comes with some commitment. Attending and participating at meetings and voting on issues are the main responsibilities.
Political Action & Municipal Liaison
Justin Taylor & Laura Holland – Co-Chairs
Policy, Administration & Finance Committee
Yehudi Hendler – Chair
Utilities, Environment & Communications Committee
Perry Fryers – Chair
Education & Training Committee
Cora Armstrong – Chair
Members’ Services & Fundraising Committee
Laura Holland – Chair
A record setting crowd more than 550 members and their guests attended this year’s festivities. Immediately after business was completed at our Annual General Meeting, everyone poured into the main reception area of Parkview Manor, for our renowned cocktail party. The best two hours of the year to mix and mingle with the industry’s finest. Then we entered the spacious dining room for a delicious multi-course meal.
We started the evening with a moment of reflection to acknowledge tragic events and to recognize those from our industry family who sadly passed away.
To celebrate our 25th Anniversary, each table simultaneously popped a bottle of prosecco and rose for a toast which included Sam Grossman, our first Chair, and Brad Butt, our previous President who joined Laura Holland, Chair and Daryl Chong on stage.
Chair Laura Holland provided a summary of our past year, highlighting our achievements and noted some issues that will soon arise.
Laura recalled that last year, from the same podium she advised we had just finished our Ontario Superior Court challenge against the City. The following month, in November 2022 we received a favourable ruling. The decision ordered the City to quash two sections of their by-law, which, if left unchanged, would require housing providers to provide the full cost of resident displacement due to major events, such as fire, flood. This created a large liability for our industry. Fortunately, with Board direction, we continued to fight and were successful in our legal battle. The City did not appeal this ruling, so it is solidly in place.
Laura noted that during our past year, that Premier Ford and the Progressive Conservatives were re-elected to a second majority, providing stability, and general support for our industry. A few months later, in October, Mayor Tory easily returned for his third term, providing stability at City Hall. Tory’s return would have allowed us to proceed with a new “Rental Housing Roundtable” working group to recommend incentives to build new rental supply. This was started, but unfortunately stalled with the departure of John Tory.
As our membership year concluded, the residents of Toronto went to the polls and elected Mayor Olivia Chow. Now in place, with newly bestowed ‘strong Mayor’ powers, she has changed the direction of City Hall. It was still early days, but we are already felt the shift.
She highlighted our spectacular golf day in May, where through a sold out crowd and incredible support from our sponsors we raised a record-setting $85,000 for our Charitable Foundation.
That this combined with the large donations from seven major sponsors as well as many individual and smaller contributions, has allowed us to continue funding many organizations that assist with housing. Including the $140,000 in donations presented at this annual dinner.
We donated $20,000 in Annual Scholarships, and the evening’s raffle draw provided the children living in the City’s Shelters and Hostel with $10,000 used for a fun event of their choosing.
Laura closed her comments by thanking all of GTAA’s Members for their continued commitment to our association. We currently have more than 153,000 paid units in our membership, 200 suppliers, and 24 Millennium Members. We are large and strong and we look forward to continuing our work together to protect and improve our industry.
Our Charitable Foundation celebrated our 18th year by presenting $140,000 to seven worthy organizations who each work tirelessly to help those in our community who need some assistance. Our Charitable Foundation Board is pleased to recognize Greenrock Real Estate Advisors, Park Property Management and Yardi Systems as our Platinum Sponsors; Lawrence Construction and WJ Properties as our Gold Sponsors; Preston Group, and Homestead Land Holdings as Silver Sponsors of our Foundation.
Margaret Herd, Chair of the GTAA Charitable Foundation presented $20,000 cheques to the seven partnering agencies at our annual dinner. These dedicated community-based organizations are making a tremendous difference in the lives of the homeless and hard to house. We are proud to support and assist them in assisting others.
Each of the following grant recipients each received $20,000 from GTAA’s Charitable Foundation:
Albiona Centre
Eva’s Initiatives
Home Suite Hope
Nellie’s
The Redwood
360° Kids
Kehilla Residential Programme
Our annual Scholarship Awards were presented before the academic year started for four very qualified and deserving residents in our buildings. Chinechem, Ivy, Saba, and Zarif were delighted, as were their families, to each receive $5,000. GTAA’s scholarship award is $4,000 and each of building owners provided an additional $1,000 to help their winning resident. Well done!
The Foundation Board sincerely thanks everyone for your support and attendance at our Golf Tournament and Chair’s Luncheon. Our events and direct donations enable us to make these contributions. It is only possible for the Foundation to make these significant investments in the community with the ongoing generous support of seven main corporate sponsors. Platinum ($15,000), Gold ($10,000) and Silver ($5,000) Sponsors generously donate directly to the Foundation each year.
GTAA Charitable Foundation’s Major Sponsors:
Platinum Sponsor
Peter Altobelli of Yardi Systems
Justin Taylor of Greenrock Real Estate Advisors
Margaret Herd of Park Property Management
Gold Sponsor
Bert C. Grant of Lawrence Construction Company
Perry Fryers of WJ Properties
Silver Sponsor
Gloria Salomon of Preston Group
Vera Tahiraj of Homestead Land Holdings
The Charitable Foundation continued to sponsor ore than 150 children living in Toronto’s family shelter system throughout the pandemic. While the kids were unable to gather for a fun filled day, the Family Residences staff with the children and families came up with creative ways to enjoy being at home. Now that the restrictions have been lifted we’re looking forward to hearing how the kids decided to enjoy this year’s $10,000 donation.
You can donate personally and corporately to the Charitable Foundation so that our industry may continue and even expand on our annual efforts to make a positive difference. Please contact GTAA (info@gtaaonline.com) to request the donation form.
S e r v i c e s W E p r o v i d e :
T r a n s p a r e n t C o l l e c t i o n s
S t a f f T r a i n i n g S e r v i c e s
A R M a n a g e m e n t
A R C o n s u l t i n g
C a l l S e r v i c e s
The Greater Toronto Apartment Association’s Founding Chair Sam Grossman was a leader in the property management industry. Sam played a major role in the development of the GTAA and encouraged all in the industry to participate in the association’s endeavours.
GTAA’s Executive Committee established the Sam Grossman Award of Excellence to recognize an individual in the property management industry that has made a significant contribution to their company, our industry and society.
Sam Grossman attended and introduced this year’s recipient –Margaret Herd!
Laura Holland provided a summary of Margaret’s accomplishments spanning her career and life, to date. Here are just some of the highlights:
Margaret Herd has been in this industry for over 40 years, working her way up the ladder in an industry where there were not a lot of women at the boardroom table.
In 1980, Margaret started with Park Property as a junior accounts receivable clerk. At that time, they managed 4,500 units and had 100 staff.
Margaret went back to school at the age of 40 where she achieved her certificate of business management from UofT. This helped Margaret in her journey to her current role as Senior Vice President. Margaret currently oversees a portfolio of more than 91 apartment buildings, with 11,000 doors and a team of nearly 300.
Margaret is actively involved with new rental construction. In 2009 she and her colleagues at Park developed 91-suites at 88 Spadina Road, which was followed by 211 suites on Isabella Street. Margaret and her team are in various stages of approvals and construction of 7 rental buildings with more than 1,500 suites.
When she’s not building, she’s buying, last year Park Property purchased 12 buildings with more than 2,100 units (and a shopping mall).
Margaret understands that it is important to be involved. In her spare time, she is Chair of GTAA’s Charitable Foundation’s Board of Directors, is on FRPO’s Board and is a past-Chair.
Outside of our industry, she is a founding member of the Down Syndrome Association of Toronto and an advocate for persons with intellectual disabilities. Margaret married her childhood sweetheart, David, and they’ve raised 3 children, Nicholas, Mackenzie & Katrina. Nicolas, Margaret’s eldest son, has Down syndrome, which at the time of his birth, there was very little support for families that had children with disabilities. This is where Margaret leaned in and was a founding member of the Down Syndrome Association of Toronto and helped many other families. Nicholas is now an internet celebrity and star of Keeping it Real with Nick. He was creative director of Free Bird, an animated short film that was long listed for an Academy Award.
Margaret is also on L’Arche Toronto’s capital campaign committee which is raising $3.8 million toward the construction of a fully supported home for persons with intellectual disabilities.
Let’s thank our Members who generously donated to this year’s raffle:
Platinum Donors
AFPS - Accurate Fire Protection & Security
Home Depot
Gold Donors
Coinamatic
Silver Donors
Schickedanz Bros.
Enerstream Agency Services Rental Housing Business
FirstOnSite
Minto Rent Check Credit Bureau
Yardi Roma Building Restoration
Wyse Meter Solutions
The contributions of our sponsors provided fantastic curated prize packages that included:
Grand Prize: $6,500 Air Canada gift card
Great experiences including premium Maple Leaf and Raptors tickets with dinner, and a fabulous Shop til you Drop day which included an Uber ride to haul your shopping bags home.
This year to ensure everyone was included in the fun and excitement, every attendee receive a raffle draw ticket on their way in. The winners were thrilled to win, and all participants were delighted to donate to the kids. We sent $10,000 to the City of Toronto’s Family Residences to fund some special events for children living in the City’s hostels and shelters.
Thank you for supporting the kids!
*
New higher incentives are available to cover more of your project costs for energy e ciency upgrades. The A ordable Housing Multi-Residential program helps close the funding gap for housing providers who need to replace aging equipment. Plus, get free insuite upgrades and technical assistance every step of the way.
Why upgrade now?
• Reduce energy, maintenance and operating costs.
• Control costs more e ectively with automated systems.
• Improve energy e ciency and reduce emissions.
• Enhance resident comfort, health and well-being.
Incentives for building upgrades
• Boilers
• Building automation controls
• Ventilation technologies
• Variable frequency drives
• Water heaters
• Energy assessments
On November 1, 2023 the Ontario government announced its intent to remove the full eight per cent provincial portion of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) on qualifying new purpose-built rental housing in order to get more rental homes built across the province. The removal of the provincial portion of the HST would apply to new purpose-built rental housing such as apartment buildings, student housing and senior residences built specifically for long-term rental accommodation, that meet the criteria. The enhanced rebate would apply to qualifying projects that begin construction between September 14, 2023 and December 31, 2030, and complete construction by December 31, 2035.
This aligned with the federal government’s enhanced GST New Residential Rental Property Rebate announced on September 14, 2023. The details were introduced in Bill C-56, Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, which received its first reading in the House of Commons September 31, 2023.
Together, the provincial and federal actions would remove the full 13 per cent HST on qualifying new purpose-built rental housing in Ontario, helping to get more housing built.
Under the former process, purpose-built rental developers were able to claim input tax credits on construction costs as projects were built. The builder then self-assessed sales tax once the residential complex has achieved substantial completion and at least one individual has moved into a unit in the complex. In Ontario, which is under the harmonized sales tax (HST) regime, the sales tax self-assessed is equal to 13%.
The former GST rental rebate provided a builder with a rebate of 36% of the 5% GST assessed on the value of the rental unit, for a rebate equivalent to 1.8% of the value of the rental unit. The rebate is currently reduced for any rental units with a fair market value of $350,000 or more, and it is reduced to 0% at a fair market value of $450,000.
Prior to the introduction of the ‘tax exemption’ for purpose-built rental developments, the Ontario HST New Residential Rental Property Rebate was equal to 75 per cent of the 8% provincial portion of the HST paid, up to a maximum rebate of $24,000. The enhanced rebate would be equal to 100 per cent of the provincial portion of the HST, with no maximum rebate amount.
The enhanced Ontario HST New Residential Rental Property Rebate would be equal to 100 per cent of the provincial portion of the HST, with no maximum rebate amount.
To qualify for the enhanced HST New Residential Rental Property Rebate, new residential units must be in buildings with at least four private apartment units or at least 10 private rooms or suites and have at least 90 per cent of residential units designated for longterm rental.
For a residential rental unit valued at $500,000, the enhanced Ontario HST New Residential Rental Property Rebate would deliver $40,000 in HST relief. When combined with the enhanced GST New Residential Rental Property Rebate, the total rebate amount would be $65,000.
Delinquent rents have always been a challenging topic. And although the balance owed by nonpaying residents typically hovered between 0.5% to 3% of revenue for most medium and large size landlords, the issue was not one of the major concerns for operations. This missing revenue has now doubled in some cases. Welcome to the postCOVID world of rental arrears!
As the LTB and other provincially equivalent boards have fallen behind in processing, and in many cases have become way more tenant friendly (or debt tolerant), non-paying residents are staying in units longer and are owing way larger sums. At collection agencies focused on collecting delinquent rents, the problem is just as acute. Listings of rent debts have multiplied in numbers while balances have shot up significantly. Where in the past a typical rental debt was a few thousand dollars, these same buildings are now registering delinquent debts of tens of thousands of dollars per unit!
In the past, recovering a few thousand dollars of debts from a former tenant was more than feasible. Now, the same tenant faced with a ten-to-twentythousand-dollar balance owing will just throw in the towel. Collection agencies are also being challenged: more listings and bigger balances should equal greater recoveries, right? Wrong! These expectations are unrealistic as tenants – and consumers in general – are feeling the pinch or rather more of a bite out of their finances as inflationary pressures grow. Basically, everyone is hurting and those with lower incomes, the very people who you are renting to (especially in class B and C), are feeling it the most.
Tackling the receivables nightmare now needs to go further than just listing accounts to your collection agency. Here are some additional ways you can impact your AR woes:
Proper on-boarding with maximum back-up being requested is your first step in insuring your
tenant revenues. It is a fact that a big number of uncollectable accounts landing at collection agencies are missing contact information; or in a large percentage of cases: updated contact information. Operators need to get in the habit of “forcing” tenants to update their contact numbers and emails on a regular basis. This strategy can be a game changer. Guarantors, guarantors, guarantors! Where a former tenant might give-up on a large balance outstanding and just accept the consequences of a negative credit record, a guarantor most of the time will not. Collection agents love to handle accounts with one or more guarantors!
Door knocking is also where it’s at! It is recommended that you either dedicate a person at head office to do your “door knocking” or inquire at your collection agency if they offer such a service. Most collection agencies handle so called first-party collections and charges are usually fee based. It is not advisable to require your site teams to door knock! Why? Because they spend every day at the building and perhaps even live in one of the units. So, for the operator to expect a member on site to knock on the door of delinquent neighbours is quite absurd. And it will almost certainly not result in significant recoveries. Timely forwarding of accounts to the paralegal and to the collection agency is also key. A delinquency can quickly run up to tens of thousands of dollars with delays at the board and processing times. The sooner you handle your bad debt column, the better. A 30 to 60 day pass off to your agents is a must.
These debts do not stop with an LTB (or Regie) judgment. A well-structured small claims (or petit creance) program is also a cornerstone to curbing delinquency and recovering tenant related AR.
More than ever, operators need to focus on customized receivables strategies. There is really an endless list of ideas, which of course need to be implemented.
