A London tenant facing eviction says he could be homeless within days as tenant advocates call on the city to strengthen protections against what they describe as ‘demovictions.’ Darcy Barnes, 63, has lived in a unit at 34 Adelaide Street South for about 10 years. He says he is on disability, as he awaits a double hip surgery. “Homelessness, basically. I’m debilitated,” Barnes said during a tenant rally outside his home Tuesday. “I have osteoarthritis in both hips. Nerve pain in my leg. And I can’t get my furniture out of the house. And I have nowhere to bring it.” Barnes says his landlord served him a N13 eviction notice last year, saying the unit needed to be vacated for work involving the building. A N13 notice can be used by landlords when a rental unit is needed for demolition, conversion, or extensive repairs or renovations. Barnes challenged the eviction at the Landlord and Tenant Board but lost his case in July. “Now I don’t have any options with my health and I’m just begging for help basically,” Barnes said. Barnes says he has been in contact with London’s Coordinated Access program and has an intake appointment scheduled for September. He says he is concerned that appointment will come too late. Tenant advocacy group ACORN London organized Tuesday’s rally and is calling on the City of London to close what it describes as a loophole in the city’s renoviction protections. “Darcy is the vulnerable tenant that we’ve been talking about for, you know, for the years that we’ve been organizing here,” said Jordan Smith of ACORN London. “Darcy is the example.” London’s Rental Unit Repair Licence bylaw requires landlords seeking to evict tenants for extensive repairs or renovations to meet additional municipal requirements. However, the city’s rental unit repair licence does not apply to N13 notices issued for demolition or conversion. Those cases are primarily governed by Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act and the Landlord and Tenant Board. ACORN says the distinction leaves tenants vulnerable to displacement when a landlord uses a N13 for demolition or conversion. “It leaves him completely stuck,” Smith said. “It leaves him homeless in the next few months, unless one of our councillors steps in and someone, a champion from the city, steps in and puts their money where their mouth is and protects the vulnerable tenants.” ACORN is calling on the city to adopt stronger, enforceable protections against demovictions and to provide immediate housing support for vulnerable tenants facing displacement. Smith also alleges the work cited in Barnes’ eviction does not match what has happened at the property. “The whole purpose was originally that five units were going to be converted into two, and that’s just not happened,” Smith said. “In fact, the landlord has gone and rented the units that were vacant.” Those allegations have not been independently verified. CTV News contacted the landlord by phone and email seeking comment on Barnes’ eviction and the allegations raised by ACORN. He did not respond. The property at 34 Adelaide Street South has previously been the subject of a planning application before the city. In November 2025, London city council approved a zoning amendment for the property that recognized the existing converted dwelling and permitted up to six residential units. City protections don’t cover demolition N13s. The City of London’s current renoviction rules are intended to provide additional protections for tenants when landlords require vacant possession to carry out extensive repairs or renovations. However, the municipal Rental Unit Repair Licence does not apply when a N13 is issued for demolition or conversion. The city has previously considered whether to expand its renoviction protections to cover those situations. Council has so far declined to make that change, while broader tenant protections related to demolition and redevelopment could be considered as part of future municipal policy work. For Barnes, the debate over how London’s rental housing rules should change is now immediate. He says his health makes finding another home particularly difficult and he fears he will have nowhere to go when he is required to leave.
