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RSS FeedsEmptied Kensington apartments appear on Airbnb
(The Star Food)

 
 

20 june 2017 01:53:44

 
Emptied Kensington apartments appear on Airbnb
(The Star Food)
 


What remains of 38 Kensington Pl. is still accessible through a short alley, in the heart of Kensington Market.Cleansed of its graffiti and missing most, if not all of its original tenants, the low-rise building is little more than a shell of what used to be a vibrant artist and student community.Most of the renters may be gone, but tourists are welcome to spend the night in renovated portions of the old apartments through the popular home-sharing site Airbnb.“My friends and I painted these stairs,” said former tenant Chris Leithead, climbing the stairwell to view an Airbnb unit at 38 Kensington Pl., inside one of the three-storey apartment buildings where he used to live.“We ripped up the carpet on the stairs and painted it,” said Leithead, 26, a visual artist.The Star went with Leithead to see a unit rented by a member of the Fairbnb Coalition, a group that was formed to draw attention to the impact Airbnb is having on affordable housing.A key issue for the coalition is the rise of ghost hotels — when a building is cleared of tenants so owners can rent out the apartments, creating what is essentially a hotel. Existing city bylaws do not allow landlords to arbitrarily transform permanent apartments into short-term rentals, or create pop-up hotels, but exactly how Airbnbs can operate in Toronto is under debate at city hall.Leithead moved into 38 Kensington Pl. in the spring of 2015 and about a year later his building was one of five Kensington properties sold to Claude Bitton.Tenants allege that Bitton and his employees came knocking door-to-door, asking for illegal rent hikes and used threats of eviction and intimidation tactics to get them out.Bitton, in 2016, told the Star he was seeking fair market rent and it was his staff who were being intimidated. He did not respond to questions about the current use of 38 Kensington Pl.The Star did reach paralegal Peter Balatidis, who recently represented Bitton at the Landlord and Ten ...


 
15 viewsCategory: Culture > Gastronomy
 
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