Property taxes in London will be increasing by 7.3 per cent in 2025. This is the first in a series of historically large increases coming for Londoners over the next five years, as per the city’s new multi-year budget. The city says that based on an average house value of $252,000 this means that, on average, a homeowner can expect to pay about $263 more in property taxes next year. With increases coming to annual water bills as well as wastewater and sewer bills, the average increase in costs will actually be around $309.

If you don’t own a home, you may be wondering if this will have any impact on your finances. While renters do not pay property taxes, landlords may have the right to increase the rent to cover the extra expenses.

If you are not covered by the rent guideline (for example if you live in a unit created after Nov. 15, 2018, or if you share a kitchen and bathroom with the landlord), your landlord can simply raise your rent. If you are covered by the guideline, there are still steps your landlord can take to recuperate costs.

According to Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO), a landlord can file a request with the Landlord Tenant Board (LTB) for an “above guideline increase” (AGI) if the increase in property taxes and other bills is considered “extraordinary.” That threshold was 3.75 per cent in 2024. As London’s tax increase is far above that, landlords will likely be able to pursue an AGI if they wish to do so.

CLEO not only lists the responsibilities of the landlord when raising rent with an AGI, but also what tenants can do if it happens to them.

First and foremost, CLEO says to read all documents carefully as soon as you get them. Landlords are required to provide the tenant with notice of the increase as well as a copy of the L5 form they submitted to the LTB for the increase to be approved. These must be provided to the tenant at least 90 days before the increase is set to take effect, and within 20 days of a hearing being scheduled by the LTB. If the tenant is not provided with the supporting evidence for the increase, they should be sure to request it from the landlord or the LTB.

“It can be hard to challenge the landlord’s math on these applications,” CLEO wrote on their website. “But tenants can check that: all the municipal taxes and charges qualify for an above guideline increase (and) they got proper notice of the increase.”

Tenants can also fight an increase if the unit or building has serious repair issues.

According to the LTB, they can “only consider existing serious breaches of health, safety or housing standards, or of the landlord’s obligation to maintain and repair the residential complex. If a tenant believes that there are serious maintenance issues in their unit or the building they should provide evidence to the LTB and the landlord by the deadline in the Notice of Hearing.”

While the vacancy rate in London rose to 2.8 per cent this fall, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), many of the new vacancies are for units over $1,500, so the market for affordable rentals is still tight. Tenants may feel powerless when a landlord wants to increase their rent, but there is helpful information available from organizations like CLEO and even the LTB itself.