More than two years into their rent strike, tenants in apartments at 71, 75 and 79 Thoncliffe Park Dr. have reached an “amicable agreement” with their landlords, Starlight Investments and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments). Details of the agreement remain confidential.
Over 100 tenants had been withholding rent since 2023, arguing the landlords were applying constant and unjustifiable above-guideline rent increases while also failing to maintain the buildings.
By June 2025, eviction hearings at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) wrapped up after negotiations ordered by the LTB broke down in March.
According to the tenants, the landlords wanted to keep them from speaking to the media.
“We cannot give up our right to speak truthfully and publicly about conditions at our buildings, even if doing so could make the landlord look bad,” said Sameer Beyan, a tenant at 79 Thorncliffe, in a press release on June 23.
In July, the Toronto Star reported that documents from the negotiation showed tenants would be forbidden from making “any false, disparaging, and/or defamatory” claims “that would be likely to harm, demean, or negatively affect” the landlord, its reputation or its business.
Though it remains unclear how the eviction matters will conclude, tenant organizer Philip Zigman says the recent agreement is evidence of “the power of working class organizing.”