Commercial Rent Canada
New Renter’s Rights for Business Owners.
Why Commercial Rent Modernization?
Canadian businesses create thriving main streets – but what happens when the rent goes up by 30% or more? It’s time for a fairer commercial leasing economy.
Read how Canada’s Provincial Governments can update their laws to level the playing field and boost their small business economies.
Big Idea 1:
Standardized Leases
Standardized Leases provide the basics for an agreement between a commercial tenant and landlord – while maintaining custom elements.
A simplified structure helps both parties understand their responsibilities and obligations – while offering a document to build amendments and detailed elements of an agreement.
Big Idea 2:
Dispute Resolution Tools
Currently, the only way to resolve an issue is taking a Landlord to court. If that’s because of a leaking sewage system, this months-long process won’t matter, the damage has already been done.
Dispute Resolution Tools like a Commercial Landlord-Tenant Board can reduce lawyer fees and shorten Commercial Tenant-Landlord resolution times.
Big Idea 3:
Predictable Rent Increases
There is no limit to how much a landlord can increase rent when a commercial lease is up. Increases of 30, 50 & 100% are common & displace long-time local businesses.
In Toronto between 2022-2023, commercial retail rent went up almost 32% across the board.
Keeping local businesses thriving on Main Streets depends on a fair rent changes – not an unregulated wild west.
Big Idea 4:
Withholding Rent
Often when a repair that is a landlord’s responsibility needs to get done, a business will pay for it and hope their landlord will repay them quickly.
If the business stops paying rent in the meantime, they can be evicted.
Allowing businesses to withhold rent to offset money owed by a landlord, without threat of eviction, will help maintain business stability and make landlord-tenant relationships easier to manage.
Business owners across Canada have been asking for commercial rent fairness. We’re delivering new ideas that create fair market conditions for brick and mortar business owners. Discover how provincial governments can use these ideas by reading through the Commercial Renter Bill of Rights.
Rent is a Top Expense for Businesses
“Their rent went up by 50% so they just shut down” is a phrase shared about many restaurants in Ontario. In London, Ontario, that’s exactly what happened to Marinos. 2023 would have been their 30th anniversary – instead of paying a 55% increase, without notice, they closed their doors.
Predictable Rent Increases would ensure that both Tenants and Landlords are able to agree on changes that benefit both businesses. Losing a London institution like Marino’s was completely preventable. However, without regulation, unscrupulous landlords are able to increase rent by any amount they desire, even if it negatively impacts the surrounding community.
Dramatic rent increases are the norm for small businesses
In June 2022, the BWA learned of S.P.A.C.E. Dance Studio on the Danforth in Toronto. The owner Linette told us her rent would be going up 35%. Between 2022-23, landlords raised retail rents in Toronto by 32%.
Linette’s story is common. We’ve heard stories (and seen the receipts) of rent going up 50, 100 – and even 300% from one lease term to the next.
In Linette’s case, her rent increase came at the same time as a persistent sewage leak in her basement. Her only recourse would be to sue her landlord, an action costing thousands of dollars and potentially hundreds of hours. Affordable Dispute Resolution would give businesses and landlords much faster resolution than Ontario’s clogged court system.
Businesses worry about having to move or permanently close
BWA Member OxiCP is a successful industrial cleaning manufacturer located in Guelph. Even with their success, they worry about the end of their current lease. It renews in 2025 and at that time they’ve been told to expect their rent to double.
“Doubling our rent is another $200,000 per year and we already operate on thin margins.” Says David Stone, Founder of OxiCP. “I’d much rather spend that money on employee training or higher wages. At this point it feels like our Landlord has more control over our business than we do.”
Standardized Leases would help businesses like OxiCP negotiate better terms, in good faith, with their landlords. Currently there are no regulations surrounding Commercial Leases, meaning Landlords control every aspect of these agreements that can be worth millions of dollars. Leveling the playing field will give businesses and landlords a greater opportunity to build toward long-term success together.