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A Toronto tenant says he’s fighting to stay in the home his family has lived in on Roncesvalles Avenue for more than a decade.
Tim Bourgette told CBC Toronto he, his wife and their children have built their lives in the neighbourhood with strong ties to the local community and nearby schools.
That stability was shaken when the building was sold in 2024 and the new owners asked them to consider leaving and eventually served them an official eviction notice.
“Immediately they started to request that we think about moving out,” Bourgette said.
Tim Bourgette and his family have lived in the same home for more than a decade. He says previous eviction attemps have been struck down at the Landlord Tenant Board. (Tina Mackenzie/CBC)
Bourgette’s situation is part of a broader dispute at 388 Roncesvalles Avenue, where tenants are at odds with the building’s owners — who also own and operate Bloom Health Clinic on the ground floor — over eviction notices and the future of the property.
The owners have issued two types of eviction notices to tenants in the upstairs units: Bourgette is contesting an N12 notice for personal use, while another tenant is fighting an N13 tied to plans to convert residential space into commercial use to expand the clinic.
Both cases are now before tribunals or the courts.
In the meantime, Bourgette worries what it will mean for his family if they have to move.
“Affordability has become such a huge issue in Toronto and we really would not be able to afford to stay in the neighbourhood that is our home,” he said.
Neighbour also facing eviction notice
Joe de Ponte is Bourgette’s downstairs neighbour who lives above the clinic and is fighting an N13 notice.
For him, the situation is all too familiar, having previously lost housing due to a renoviction at another property in the neighbourhood.
“It’s like the worst case of déjà vu you could think of,” de Ponte said.
Together, Bourgette and de Ponte are trying to get the word out about their situation to let other tenants know there are ways to push back against these kinds of eviction notices.
“We just want people to know that … you have rights, that it’s really important that we organize as a community,” Bourgette said.
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Both tenants are being represented by Samuel Mason, a lawyer at Parkdale Community Legal Services, who told CBC Toronto their cases are “no-fault” evictions.
“The tenants have done nothing wrong,” he said.
In Bourgette’s case, Mason argued the landlord’s use of an N12 notice raises legal questions because the property is owned by a corporation, which is not permitted to evict tenants for personal use.
A small ownership stake — about one per cent — was transferred to individuals before the eviction application was filed, but the LTB dismissed the case, finding the landlord was not acting in good faith, he said.
“You can’t work around this tenant protection measure via a loophole,” Mason said.
Landlords say notices are completely lawful
The landlords are appealing the LTB’s decision at Divisional Court and a hearing date has been set for May 20.
In a statement, lawyer Delaram M. Jafari, representing the building’s owners, said both the N12 and N13 notices comply with Ontario law and are currently being considered through the proper legal channels.
“Both notices are standard and lawful processes under the Residential Tenancies Act,” he wrote.
Through the statement, owners Breen Agnew and Carissa Dupuis argued the move is a financial necessity as they seek to live in a building they already own.
“This is not about displacing tenants; it is about a young family occupying the only home they can afford,” the statement said.
The landlords also dispute how the situation has been characterized publicly, saying claims of “illegal evictions” are “false and misleading,” and alleging they have faced harassment and reputational harm amid community backlash.