{"id":2238,"date":"2016-09-01T12:03:29","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T16:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/coast-landlord-licensing-solution-shitty-landlords\/"},"modified":"2016-09-01T12:03:29","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T16:03:29","slug":"coast-landlord-licensing-solution-shitty-landlords","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/news\/coast-landlord-licensing-solution-shitty-landlords\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coast: Landlord licensing: a solution to shitty landlords?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students and other low-income tenants are often at the mercy of their property owners’ whims.<\/p>\n

Posted September 1, 2016<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"[For more on Landlord Licensing, check out Nova Scotia ACORN’s Municipal Platform<\/a>]<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n
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When the hot water at Brett Bell\u2019s apartment stopped working, he called the company that managed his property. It didn\u2019t help. Since it hadn\u2019t received complaints from any other tenants about the water system, Bell\u2019s claim was shrugged off.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI was like, \u2018I\u2019ve been taking cold showers for the last couple days,\u2019\u201d says Bell.<\/div>\n
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This was one of multiple things that frustrated Bell while he and his roommates lived in a place on Parker Street in Halifax. The first year had mostly gone by smoothly, but during their second year at the apartment, problems kept popping up.<\/div>\n
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\u201cEvery time I called [about the water], I got the same girl in the office who was just lazy and didn\u2019t want to do anything,\u201d he says.<\/div>\n
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After a month of dealing with water that reached lukewarm at best, Bell finally got ahold of someone at the company willing to help. Maintenance workers came to look at the water heater and said the issue came down to calcium build-up in the pipes. They did their work and told the tenants they\u2019d have hot water in a few hours. That didn\u2019t work.<\/div>\n
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A week passed and Bell called the company again.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThey came back and they ripped out my bathroom wall…while I wasn\u2019t home,\u201d says Bell. \u201cI came home and there was debris all over the floor and dust on everything.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Bell says he doesn\u2019t classify these as \u201chorror stories,\u201d per se, but other issues\u2014ranging from having to push to get smoke detectors installed to a mouse infestation soon\u2014had Bell and his roommates looking for new digs. They eventually moved to South Park Street.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThen, I had another shit landlord,\u201d says Bell.<\/div>\n
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Jonethan Brigley is the Dartmouth chair for Nova Scotia\u2019s branch of ACORN (a group focused on rights for low-income residents). He feels having landlord licensing in HRM could help prevent experiences like Bell\u2019s.<\/div>\n
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\u201cBusinesses need it. Why not landlords?\u201d says Brigley.<\/div>\n
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Brigley compares the idea to restaurant licensing: Properties would be inspected by the city every three to four years, and things would operate on a \u201cthree-strike system\u201d if a property isn\u2019t up to code.<\/div>\n
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\u201cIf they don\u2019t fix it by the third strike, not only will they be charged fees, but that unit would no longer be theirs. It\u2019d be owned by the city until they can pay it up and fix it.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Rent control would also be part of the plan. Brigley claims these policies would not only benefit tenants, but would help good landlords in the long run.<\/div>\n
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According to him, a few municipal officials have been receptive to the idea of landlord licensing in one form or another, but progress has been slow.<\/div>\n
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HRM spokesperson Brendan Elliot confirms there is nothing official in the works yet at city hall about the idea, but \u201cmunicipal staff is looking into the whole issue of licensing\u201d in the hope of bringing recommendations to city council.<\/div>\n
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Brigley acknowledges there are plenty of good landlords out there, but he feels the bad ones \u201cmore than likely\u201d take advantage of students and other low-income tenants.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m pushing for it\u2014just so people have that safety,\u201d he says of licensing.<\/div>\n
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Jon Bolduc had his own problems as a student tenant. For instance, his landlords abruptly stopped doing snow removal while they were going through a divorce. He agrees there should be more regulations in place to protect tenants at the mercy of shit landlords.<\/div>\n
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Landlords \u201ckind of see students as a commodity,\u201d says Bolduc. \u201cIf we weren\u2019t students…I don\u2019t think they would\u2019ve had the audacity to just dodge our phone calls.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Both Bolduc and Bell have since left Nova Scotia. These days, Bell is living in Regina. His experiences with renting here have been largely positive. But landlord licensing doesn\u2019t exist there, either. As CBC reported in April, city officials said there were \u201cfew benefits\u201d to putting a licensing system for rental properties in place.<\/div>\n
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Bell believes something else might be at play: The demographic of the tenants.<\/div>\n
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\u201cA broke hipster student that goes to the University of King\u2019s College,\u201d for example, doesn\u2019t have the power \u201can established, mid-career adult\u201d would.<\/div>\n
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\u201cStudent tenants seem to be expendable,\u201d says Bell.<\/div>\n
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***<\/div>\n
Article by Rebecca Dingwell for The Coast<\/a><\/div>\n
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