A prominent local builder and landlord is making his views known on the renoviction issues that have been swirling around Quinte West in recent months.
Wednesday at its regular meeting, Quinte West council will see a detailed letter from the president of Stan Klemencic Builder Limited Andy Klemencic.
Klemencic sold apartment buildings on Trenton’s Sidney and Bay Streets earlier this year and after that, Bedford Properties issued renoviction notices to a few of the tenants in the Sidney Street complex.
That caused a loud pushback from a group known as Hands Off Our Homes Quinte West.
In the letter, Klemencic blamed the province for keeping allowable annual rent increases to low, averaging just 1.7% a year since 2010, causing a rent gap between long-term tenants and new ones, effectively leaving a situation where the landlord is subsiding long-term tenants in some situations.
Klemencic also stressed that many local apartment buildings are being left to deteriorate badly and that necessary upgrades to units are important or there will be fewer and fewer rental units available over time.
See the entire letter from Andy Klemencic here.
Quinte West council meets Wednesday at 4:30.
