As Kingston, Ont., city council looks at setting up a system to licence — and inspect — rooming houses and other rental properties, some landlords worry the plan could lead to unintended consequences for the city’s housing market.
An administrative report sent to council this week recommends the creation of a residential rental licensing program for rooming houses and other rental properties with one to four units in them.
The options recommended include forming a registry and revising municipal by-law, or implementing a licensing system with either a full roll-out across the city or an initial pilot project in the Sydenham and Rideau-Kingscourt districts.
The goal is to improve the health and safety of tenants through mandatory inspections, according to the report.
But Robert Melo, president of the Kingston Rental Property Owners Association is concerned the licensing aspects would add unnecessary fees to landlords that follow the rules.
That could lead to higher rents and fewer rental units, Melo warns.
“It will definitely have an effect on availability of housing plus it will increase the cost of housing,” he told Global News this week.
On the other hand, Coun. Conny Glenn says she has seen tenants living under substandard conditions and something needs to change.
Glenn says those conditions became apparent when she was canvassing in the last municipal election in the Sydenham district, an area with a high concentration of student housing.
“There were steps that we knew weren’t safe, holes in roofing areas,” she said, adding current rules make it difficult for officials to inspect the inside of some rental spaces.
“The challenge for us as a city is getting a look at the interior.”
Coun. Brandon Tozzo says a licence system would be tied to inspections, allowing bylaw officers to legally enter apartments.
As things stand now a complaint needs to be filed by a tenant before bylaw officers are allowed to deal with issues inside an apartment.
“Landlords would have to licence their properties, it would be subject to an inspection and a fee,” Tozzo said of the proposed changes.
That would allow the municipality to proactively make sure standards are maintained from the inside, not just the outside, Tozzo says.
Melo says he wants property standards maintained but adds he’d like the city to instead focus on targeted enforcement.
“There has been some targeted efforts by enforcement which we applaud — we applaud them for doing that — we want them to continue it.”
If the city does decide to move forward with some form of rental licence or registry, city staff aren’t expected to report back with next steps until the second half of the year.
That means the actual implementation wouldn’t be likely to start until 2025 at the earliest.
— with files from Darryn Davis