Opinion
Rent in the Dark: Why Toronto Needs a Rent Registry
Landlords know. Tenants don’t.
Every landlord in Toronto knows what similar units rent for. Corporate landlords track it building by building, month by month. Tenants have none of that information. You see an asking price, you have days to decide, and you have no way to know whether it is fair.
When your landlord raises the rent, the same thing happens. You are told the number and expected to pay it. Most renters have no easy way to check whether the increase is legal, and no record to prove what they were paying before.
That is renting in the dark. It does not have to work this way.
What other cities already do
In Dubai, every lease must be registered with the government through a system called Ejari. That data feeds an official rental index, published by area and property type, built from real registered leases.
Any tenant can go online, enter their unit and current rent, and see whether a proposed increase is allowed. Rent increases at renewal are tied to that index: if your rent is already close to the market average, your landlord cannot raise it. Disputes go to a dedicated rental court that enforces those limits.
The lesson for Toronto is not that we should copy another city’s laws. It is that transparency works. When every lease is on record and every tenant can see what fair rent looks like, overcharging becomes much harder to hide.
My plan for Toronto
As mayor, I will do two things the City has the power to do:
- Register every rental. Every rental unit in Toronto, from tower apartments to basement units and rented condos, will be registered with the City. We will build on RentSafeTO, which today covers only larger apartment buildings, so that no rental is left out.
- Publish a Toronto rent index. Using registry data, the City will publish what similar units actually rent for in every neighbourhood. Free, online, in every language our residents speak.
How it helps you
- You will know what fair rent is. Before you sign, check the index. If the asking rent is far above what similar units go for, you can negotiate or walk away.
- You can catch illegal increases. Most older units have a legal cap on yearly increases. With your lease on record, you can prove what you were paying and challenge an increase that breaks the rules.
- Hidden rentals come into the light. Many basement apartments and condo rentals are never inspected. Registration brings every unit under the City’s safety standards.
- The worst landlords get caught first. Registry data shows which landlords have the most complaints, the steepest increases and the most turnover. Inspectors go after repeat offenders instead of waiting for tenants to complain.
- You walk into the Landlord and Tenant Board with evidence. Official records of your lease and your rent, not your word against a corporate landlord’s.
- The City builds where it is needed most. Real rent data shows where rents are rising fastest, so affordable homes and vacant-home tax enforcement go where they matter.
Good landlords have nothing to fear from this. Most already charge fair rent and keep their buildings safe. Transparency protects them too, because it stops the worst operators from undercutting the rules everyone else follows.
What I will fight Queen’s Park for
I will be honest about what a mayor can and cannot do. The City can register rentals and publish the truth about rents. It cannot cap rents. Rent control and the Landlord and Tenant Board belong to the province.
But a Toronto rent index gives us something we have never had: hard evidence. With it, I will press Queen’s Park to:
- Restore rent control on units first occupied after 2018, which today have none.
- Limit how much rent can jump between tenants, using real data on what fair rent is.
- Fix the Landlord and Tenant Board so tenants get a hearing in weeks, not months.
How it is paid for
No blank cheques. The registry builds on RentSafeTO, which landlords already fund through registration fees, and on systems the City already runs. Fines from landlords who break the rules help pay for enforcement. Taxpayers should not carry the cost of policing the worst landlords.
The registry and the first published rent index would be set up in my first year in office.
Turn on the lights
Renters are nearly half of this city. They pay the rent that keeps Toronto running, and they deserve to know what they are paying for. A landlord’s information advantage should not decide whether a family can stay in its home.
Toronto will no longer throw its people away. It will be the place that takes care of its people, and I will change the rules of the game.
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng.
Candidate for Mayor of Toronto, bahira.ca
Toronto needs an engineer
Leave a Reply