Vancouver Island town considers bylaw to help keep rental units cool in summer
View Royal would set 26 C as a maximum temperature
The town council in View Royal, a suburb of Victoria, B.C., is considering a bylaw that would require landlords to keep rental units under a certain temperature in summer — and over a certain temperature in winter.
Coun. Don Brown, who tabled the motion, said it is a "no-brainer" given the extreme heat waves British Columbia has faced in the past few years.
In 2021, 619 British Columbians died over eight days of intense heat.
"It's a health and safety concern, bottom line," said Brown, who noted that some municipalities in B.C. have minimum temperature standards, but he could find none with maximum standards.
The City of Victoria, for example, requires landlords to supply heating that can maintain the temperature at at least 21 C.
Brown has suggested that View Royal institute 21 C as its minimum, and 26 C as its maximum.
The bylaw would apply to all rental units, not just new builds.
A few municipalities in Ontario, including Mississauga, have a maximum temperature bylaw of 26 C.
After discussion at the council table, View Royal staff is now looking into the suggestion and will report back to council later this year.
Brown says some of his colleagues were concerned about enforcement.
The town, which has a population of 11,575, has only one bylaw officer.
Brown suggested enforcement would be complaint-driven.
"I don't expect [the] bylaw officer go around knocking on people's doors and coming out with a thermometer to measure the temperature," said Brown.
Advocate applauds move
But advocates say once such a bylaw is in place, municipal officials might not have to get involved at all.
Douglas King, executive director of Together Against Poverty, a non-profit in Victoria which provides legal advocacy to tenants, said the bylaw would serve as a tool that tenants could then take with them to the Residential Tenancy Branch, if temperature standards weren't being met.
The branch could then force landlords to act in accordance with the bylaw — and potentially to compensate the tenants as well.
King said that happens now when heating systems aren't maintained — and it should be the same for cooling.
"There's no logical reason why we wouldn't have the same standard for heating as we do for cooling."
Such a bylaw would also clear up confusion caused this summer when tenants who successfully applied to receive government-funded air conditioning units were told by landlords that they could not use them.
King said View Royal is the first B.C. municipality he's heard of to consider setting maximum temperature bylaws, and he encourages more to step up.
But he said it should really come from the province to set B.C.-wide standards.
In a statement to CBC News, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said climate-related changes will come in the province's next building code update, which is underway.
He said the province is proposing that all new homes have at least one room where the temperature doesn't rise above 26 degrees.
"We encourage landlords and strata corporations to carefully consider their bylaws and tenancy agreements to protect residents," the statement added.
Kahlon also wrote that the ministry is reviewing its air conditioning policies.