The City of Kitchener will implement a Rental Renovation bylaw, looking to protect tenants from bad-faith landlords.
The bylaw was discussed at length in council chambers on Monday, with a long list of delegates speaking in defence of both tenants and landlords. Similar bylaws have recently been passed in Waterloo and Hamilton, with a limited dataset to prove whether or not the bylaws are having the desired effect.
Under this, in the City of Kitchener, a landlord would be required to apply for a licence through the city before being able to evict a tenant to perform a renovation or significant repairs.
In some cases, a “bad-faith” landlord would evict a tenant claiming renovations and replace them with a new tenant at a higher rental rate. This process is known as a “renoviction.”
“The point of this bylaw is to deter the N13s from being issued in bad faith, because it actually eliminates any financial incentive for a landlord to evict a tenant in bad faith,” said Jacquie Wells, chair of Waterloo Region ACORN.
Ward 1 councillor, Margaret Johnston, who voted in favour, believes all parties need to be considered in these matters.
“Small business owners, landlords are the major people who are providing rental housing in our community,” said Johnston while a guest on The Mike Farwell Show. “I know that every single person on our council, I love our council, cares about the people piece, the business piece needs to make sense as well.”
However, some councillors believed that protecting tenants from those landlords is the responsibility of the Landlord and Tenant Board and the provincial government.
According to staff, the implementation of this system would require the hiring of two full-time staff members, and could cost as much as $400,000 in 2027.
“What’s happening is you’re taking money away from our ability to fix our parks, our potholes, and to clear our snow, because that is our responsibility,” said Councillor Scott Davey. “We’re supposed to advocate to the province to fix these problems.”
Johnston acknowledged that the bylaw isn’t perfect and there is work still to be done.
“There’s lots of conversations still to be hade around it. But, housing, is part of your health, knowing you have a safe place to live. It’s a complicated issue.”
The bylaw was narrowly passed through a 5-4 vote, with councillors Davey, Ayo Owodunni, Bil Ioannidis, and Dave Schnider opposed.
