City Hall considers cracking down on problem landlords
City staff were told by a council committee to go back to the drawing board to ensure all rental units in London are maintained in a safe condition.
Members of London ACORN held a rally outside City Hall prior to a meeting of the Community and Protective Services (CAPS) Committee on Tuesday.
The tenants’ advocacy group renewed its call for City Hall to take steps to hold landlords accountable for unsafe living conditions in rental units across the city.
“We (and council) have a lot of common ideas, so we are looking to build a foundation of something to start with. We all agree something needs to be done,” explained Jo-Dee Phoenix of London ACORN.
Last week, civic administration released a report recommending, “no further action is required regarding the licensing of rental units within apartment or townhouse structures.”
Currently, the municipality only licenses houses, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes.
A license requires initial building code and fire code inspections plus payment of an annual renewal fee.
The staff report determined annual inspections of all 47,000 rental units in townhouses and apartment buildings would require hiring 37 new municipal law enforcement officers and a similar number of fire prevention officers.
But London ACORN rejects the premise of the report.
“ACORN has never asked for an inspection of every single rental unit in the City of London,” Phoenix told the CAPS Committee.
Rather than have the city inspect all of the rental units in townhouses and apartment buildings each year, London ACORN recommends City Hall follow the lead of Toronto’s RentSafeTO program.
In Toronto, landlords pay $11.24 per rental unit as a registration fee, and $1,917 for an annual audit to ensure that building maintenance standards are met.
Failing to meet those standards could result in financial penalties.
CAPS Committee Chair Jesse Helmer suggests the program could help identify problematic landlords and buildings for investigation and enforcement.
“Register the buildings, and then do audits,” Helmer explains. “Take a look at the common areas (in the building). Are there problems? If so, come back and look a little deeper.”
The committee unanimously recommended directing staff to prepare a new report considering a ‘RentSafeLondon’ program.
Helmer says landlords that let buildings decay contribute to the housing crisis by taking once rentable units out of the market.
“The RentSafeTO program in Toronto is not perfect, but it’s going in the right direction in terms of being proactive.”
Council will consider the committee’s recommendation October 5.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Canada's GDP rises amid expert fears of rate-hike recession
Statistics Canada says real gross domestic product rose 0.2 per cent in February. The growth followed a 0.5 per cent gain in January.
'Fatalities' reported following wrong-way collision on Highway 401, SIU called in: police
Ontario's Special Investigations Unit has been called in following a deadly wrong-way collision on Highway 401 in Whitby on Monday night, say police.
NEW Is there a cost to convenience? Canada approves new cancer immunotherapy treatment
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Canada's new dental program offering hope of free care to millions but many dentists aren't signed up
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
Winner of US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot is an immigrant from Laos who has cancer
One of the winners of a historic US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
King Charles III returns to public duties with a trip to a cancer charity
King Charles III returned to public duties on Tuesday, visiting a cancer treatment charity and beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch's own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
NDP says Ottawa's new grocery task force isn't living up to government promises
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.