The owner of a Moroccan restaurant in Cabbagetown is on the verge of closing after about a year in business over a simmering landlord dispute.Rayah Cafe on Parliament Street near Carlton Street has quickly gained in popularity, particularly now with Morocco’s impressive World Cup run.But what many of its loyal customers may not know is that the owners are facing eviction.Wafa El Rhazi is the chef and owner of Rayah with her husband and business partner, Zaky Hajji.They say they have been consumed with keeping the restaurant afloat over the last several months amid a financial dispute with their landlord over charges for taxes, maintenance, and insurance (TMI), which commercial tenants typically pay in addition to rent.El Rhazi says the landlord hasn’t been clear about how the end-of-year charges presented to her were calculated, saying the amounts owed have fluctuated between $11,000 and $5,000.“This is anxiety for me,” she tells CityNews. “My team also didn’t know if they would have a job.” El Rhazi says the landlord has failed to provide documentation to support the charges.“The only thing we are asking is show us the receipts,” she says. “Show us the invoice. Show us the supporting documentation that proves those amounts, and we’ll pay.” The dispute came to a head on June 8 when she says she was served with a notice of default in the amount of $7,500, which stated she had to pay within days or face eviction, but she refused.The money, she says, is sitting in a trust with her lawyer and is awaiting the proper receipts before releasing it.Complicating matters is Ontario’s commercial tenant law, which allows landlords to evict tenants after 15 days for unpaid rent — even if the tenant is disputing it. CityNews reached out to the landlord, Kareem Sethi, for comment but did not receive a response as of the time of publication.In the meantime, the couple has managed to avoid eviction by staying on the property around the clock — their only legal recourse for now. Ontario NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam says the provincial Commercial Tenancies Act, which is nearly 40 years old, is due for review to prevent situations like this from happening to others. “It sounds like in this case, we do have a landlord who’s taken advantage of the situation, to be honest,” Wong-Tam says.“One thing that I’m interested in changing because of the situation that has emerged out of Rayah and other conversations I’ve had with small business owners is that they would like to have a standardized commercial lease, very comparable to what we see in residential tenancies, and so therefore the details of the lease agreement will be much more clear-cut.”Rayah Cafe remains open for now and is ready to welcome supporters of Morocco on Saturday when the national team faces Canada in the World Cup round of 16.