Background: The Town of Newmarket should license and regulate lodging/rooming houses and make reference to them in its Official Plan which is currently being revised and updated. The Town is looking at housing and housing affordability but there is no mention of lodging houses and the role, if any, they could play. Unregulated and unlicensed lodging (or rooming) houses currently fly under the municipal radar and can be a fire hazard.
The 2021 Census tells us Newmarket has the highest percentage of renter households in York Region. And 2,470 people in Town are living only with non-relatives. (See table below)
Weekend "Pastor"
Until recently, “Pastor” Saeid Rezaei was a near neighbour of mine who in 2020 purchased a single detached dwelling in the street where I live along with another one not far from Southlake Hospital. He was based in Richmond Hill where he was a “Pastor” on Sundays but during the week he operated a home renovation business.
I soon discovered there was more to the Pastor than meets the eye. His property was regularly visited by the Fire Service - and the Police.
Invisible Landlord
Rezaei was convicted of sexual assault at Newmarket Courthouse in June but had been held in custody for many months beforehand, waiting for his trial to come up.
I don’t recall ever seeing him out and about in the neighbourhood. But Rezaei, the invisible landlord, was allowing huge numbers of people to stay in his property. Last year, when I first knocked on the door and introduced myself to the residents, I was told there were seven people living there. But the numbers seemed to fluctuate with as many as ten people coming and going.
Mountains of Garbage
Rezaei’s property started to become a serious problem around July last year. Garbage was being generated on an industrial scale every week. The Town operates a three-bag limit for residential properties and anything in excess is uncollected and is left on the curb. Unbelievably, the solution for Rezaei’s tenants was to dump garbage bags around the neighbourhood.
Despite Town officials – as individuals - bending over backwards to help (and our Ward Councillor, Trevor Morrison, going the extra mile) I got the clear impression the Town’s hands were tied. Apart from sending in the Property Standards people (who had a difficult job with the landlord in custody) the Town appeared reluctant to do anything which might encroach on the owner’s property rights. No-one at the Town Hall could tell me anything about the status of the people living under Rezaei’s roof. Were they tenants or guests or squatters?
If there was anti-social behaviour it was a matter for the Police not for them.
Who is Rezaei? 
I was soon on a mission to find out as much as I could about the “Pastor”. I checked the valuation roll at Newmarket Town Hall to see who was paying the property taxes. I went to Richmond Hill to speak to the people at Rezaei’s forwarding address. I consulted the Land Registry to see who owned the property. He had a mortgage with the Royal Bank of Canada. I read reams of Court documents about the man. And I spent a huge amount of time at Newmarket Courthouse where his case was endlessly delayed and rescheduled, orchestrated by his slippery lawyer, Bobby Vakili whose main skill, it seemed to me, was in gaming the system, constantly requesting adjournments and gumming up the work of the Court. For what purpose I do not know.
I could write a book about Saeid Rezaei but can’t. The Court has ordered a publication ban on information that would allow any victim of his to be identified.
Fire Hazard
With Rezaei in custody, his property became a complete wreck and a real eyesore. And a fire hazard.
Central York Fire Service first inspected the property on 1 November 2023 with a follow-up visit the next day. An inspection order was posted on 24 November 2023.
There was another property re-inspection on 9 May 2024.
On 25 July 2024, there was a kitchen fire.
An inspection order was posted again on 24 November 2024 with a property re-inspection on 25 March 2025. Another new inspection order was posted on 31 March 2025. There was a further property re-inspection on 5 May 2025 and a new order posted on 23 May 2025. Clearly, no remedial work was undertaken.
The multitude of people living in Pastor Rezaei’s property were evicted by the Police on 3 June 2025. The Royal Bank has now repossessed the property.
Accessory Dwelling Units
By contrast, the Town licenses and regulates so-called Accessory Residential Units which are often basement apartments which must comply with all the fire regulations – such as having more than one entrance/exit. Their location across Town is a matter of public record.
But, paradoxically, no-one knows where the lodging/rooming houses are because the Town chooses not to regulate or license them.
For its part, York Region does license Lodging Houses (By-Law 2014-71) but, curiously, there is only one - in Whitchurch Stouffville with 10 residents - in a region whose population is close to 1.25 million.
Go figure.
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Note 1: The definition of a Lodging or Rooming House varies. Our neighbour, Aurora, for example, defines a Boarding or Rooming House as a dwelling in which lodging with or without meals is provided for gain to five or more persons other than the lessee, tenant, or owner and which is not open to the general public. In King, a Boarding or Rooming House means a dwelling in which lodging with or without meals is supplied for gain to four or more persons other than the lessee, tenant, or owner or any member of his family and which is not open to the general public.
Note 2: According to the 2021 Census Newmarket has the highest percentage of renter households in York Region.
Note 3: A census family is a couple, married or in a Common Law relationship, with or without children, or a one-parent family. Non-census-family households are either one person living alone or a group of two or more persons who live together but do not constitute a census family. (Statistics Canada)
