Dear Urban Diplomat: can I get my lefty tenants’ Olivia Chow sign off my lawn?
I rent the upper floor of my semi to a young couple and was dismayed to find an Olivia Chow sign on my front lawn. I’m ardently opposed to her politics, though I’ll spare you the ideological screed. My question: can they use my property to promote their views? If so, how might I persuade them not to, short of stealing the sign in the night?
—NIMFY, Roncesvalles
Every Toronto neighbourhood has lawns crowded with signs from opposing parties, so you’re probably not the only one thinking about a midnight pilfer. But in your case there’s no need. According to city bylaws, the property owner is the king of the castle and decides what goes in the yard. There’s one exception: if you have a lease agreement that gives your renter sole rights to the use of the front lawn. Barring that, you’re in charge. Trashing their sign would be a dictatorial move, however, especially if you plan to advertise your own mayoral choice. A friendlier proposal would be a mutual agreement to leave the lawn uncluttered, politically agnostic and green (though maybe not Green).
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![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/urban-diplomat-election-lawn-signs/&title=Dear Urban Diplomat: can I get my lefty tenants’ Olivia Chow sign off my lawn?&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/urban-diplomat-lawn-signs.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_294493" align="alignright" width="292"] (Image: Paul Henman/Flickr)[/caption]Dear Urban Diplomat,
I rent the upper floor of my semi to a young couple and was dismayed to find an Olivia Chow sign on my front lawn. I’m ardently opposed to her politics, though I’ll spare you the ideological screed. My question: can they use my property to promote their views? If so, how might I persuade them not to, short of stealing the sign in the night?
—NIMFY, Roncesvalles
Every Toronto neighbourhood has lawns crowded with signs from opposing parties, so you’re probably not the only one thinking about a midnight pilfer. But in your case there’s no need. According to city bylaws, the property owner is the king of the castle and decides what goes in the yard. There’s one exception: if you have a lease agreement that gives your renter sole rights to the use of the front lawn. Barring that, you’re in charge. Trashing their sign would be a dictatorial move, however, especially if you plan to advertise your own mayoral choice. A friendlier proposal would be a mutual agreement to leave the lawn uncluttered, politically agnostic and green (though maybe not Green).
Send your questions to the Urban Diplomat at urbandiplomat@torontolife.com){kind=link}
Sure legally you can or can have the sign removed but is it worth it? You may not agree with their politics but are you really that offended by a different view point? Isn’t the fact that we can disagree about political ideologies and yet discuss them in an open setting one of the great things about Canada? Maybe you should focus more on the fact that your tenants don’t walk around with their shoes on, blast music at all hours of the day and night, remove their garbage in a timely fashion and pay their rent on time and entirely. Those should be your concerns as a landlord. Letting them keep the sign is a small thing and makes them happy and as long as their happy they’ll continue to be good tenants.
If Olivia Chow bugs you that much order a Tory or Ford sign and put it in the lawn, that way you start debate on your street about where things are headed and where you’d like them to go. There a billions of people on this planet who would die for the opportunity in which you have been given; don’t hate, celebrate.
Legally speaking you can remove the sign from your lawn but all your tenant has to do is move the sign into the window of their unit and there is absolutely nothing you can do. You need to ask yourself: is the sign on your lawn hurting your that bad that you want to risk the relationship between your tenant and Chow signs in your window.
Just put your own candidate’s sign that you support on the lawn. In fact, with 69 candidates running for Mayor, you could get 69 candidate signs for Mayor on your lawn, plus how many candidates for Councillor and School Trustee. A forest of signs.
Don’t need to aerate the lawn, either.
Go ahead and chuck the sign in the trash–you have my blessing.