A small group staged a protest in front of a Chinatown flowershop on Wednesday, asking passersby to stop shopping there until the small business owner, Jenny Jiang, upholds her responsibilities to her residential tenants.
Since the beginning of the month, all seven tenants of Jiang’s six-bedroom rooming house, located above Win’s Flowers on Dundas Street West, have withheld their rent.
They said they will continue to do so until Jiang deals with a slew of alleged longstanding issues — bedbugs, rats, a broken washer-dryer and more.
“Can you buy flowers from here knowing the conditions that the tenants are living in upstairs?” Lily Xia, a volunteer with local group Friends of Chinatown asked the crowd. “No!” they shouted back.
“We decided to hold this protest to tell Jenny that she cannot hide her actions, and that if she is going to act this way, then everybody is going to know,” said Xia.
In an interview with TorontoToday after the protest on Wednesday Jiang denied any wrongdoing.
Since 2023, Toronto landlords have faced an increasing number of rent strikes. Xia said this is the first in Chinatown’s history.
Heating issues, lease troubles
Clifford Wade, who lives in the rooming house, alleged in a speech on Wednesday that Jiang has failed to uphold her legal responsibilities.
He said the landlord did not turn on the heat in the property until December, after a city bylaw officer posted a notice on the door at tenants’ urging.
“We were very cold in the night,” he said.
Jiang said it took time to get a repair person out to fix the broken heater, but that the issue is now resolved.
By law, Toronto landlords must heat their properties to a minimum of 21 degrees from September 15 to June 1. Under city bylaws, heat-related requests are considered urgent and landlords are expected to deal with broken heaters in a timely manner.
Wade also alleged that when he and a friend moved into the property in September, Jiang failed to provide him with a lease and with keys.
He said in an interview on Monday that without a key, he was forced to sleep on the street one night because he was unable to reach other tenants to let him in.
Jiang denied that Wade is a tenant. She alleged her rental agreement was with Wade’s friend, who has since moved out.
Wade said this is a lie. He said Jiang promised to rent them the unit long-term but has since changed her tune because she wants to turn it into an Airbnb.
Wade said his roommate only moved out after facing aggressive behaviour from Jiang.
“This woman is a liar — a compulsive liar,” he alleged.
Bed bugs, wifi problems
Wade said in his speech Wednesday that Jiang has also not eradicated a longstanding bedbug problem at the property. TorontoToday saw evidence of an infestation there on Monday.
Jiang claimed the bed bug problem was caused by tenants. Under Ontario law, landlords are responsible for eradicating bed bugs, regardless of their origin.
On Wednesday, Xia said Jiang has also failed to fix a broken washer-dryer that has been out of commission for about six months.
Jiang said the washer-dryer is not included in tenants’ lease agreements.
Xia disputed this and claimed Jiang has been unwilling to provide any of her tenants with written leases. “Legally, the tenants have implied leases, which includes washer and dryer [because] they were a service and working when they moved in,” she said.
Xia alleged Jiang also turned off the property’s wifi for five days in November.
She said service was only restored after tenants delivered Jiang a letter outlining numerous concerns about the property.
Jiang acknowledged there was a brief internet outage but said it occurred as a result of switching wifi providers.
Wade said his landlord’s behaviour has taken a toll on his wellness.
“It takes an impact on each and every one of us in a different way, in terms of our mental health,” he described. “Everybody should be at peace, man. I mean, life is hard enough as it is.”
Are landlords taking advantage?
An employee of a business on Dundas Street West watched part of the protest on Wednesday morning before going to work.
He said he is concerned landlords in the area are taking advantage of tenants by charging high rent, filling the properties with as many people as possible and not maintaining proper standards.
“A lot of people are just doing it for profit,” said the man, who asked TorontoToday not to use his name for fear of employment repercussions. “Safety [in the properties] is a number one concern for me.”
Xia said Jiang charges a monthly rent of between $800 and $1,200 for each of the six units in her rooming house, resulting in total revenue of at least $5,100 every month.
Jiang said her rental costs are comparable to others in the neighbourhood.
She said the protest staged Wednesday hurt her business and that one of her employees in the shop at the time felt scared.
She told TorontoToday she believed the protest was illegal but did not specify on what grounds.
Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, people are free to peacefully assemble and protest.
Boycott call
Xia said a lot of Win’s Flowers' customers shop at the store because it’s been a longstanding business in the community and they are unaware of how she treats her tenants.
Now that they know, she’s hopeful people will boycott the store until the situation is rectified.
“I think it's important that people in the community come together and tell Jenny that this is not acceptable behaviour,” she said.
