Committee vote restores hopes for renoviction bylaw in Ottawa
A city committee disagreed with a staff report that advised against a bylaw to protect tenants
Days after a city report advised against a renoviction bylaw in Ottawa, councillors voted to ask staff to go back to the drawing board and study how to make one.
Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster introduced a motion at planning and housing committee Wednesday that aims to launch a bylaw review for the development of a renoviction bylaw. It would draw on models in Toronto and Hamilton, which both require landlords looking to evict tenants for renovation work to seek city licences.
Troster's motion passed with just a single vote against. It still needs approval at a meeting of city council next week. If that happens, committee chair Jeff Leiper said it would result in a draft bylaw for council to eventually vote on.
"The near-unanimous consent that we saw today is a good sign for those of us who are keen to get a renoviction bylaw in place," said Leiper.
He said the vote isn't a rebuke of city staff, but a "political decision" to disagree with their advice. The decision followed hours of delegations from tenant advocates and anti-homelessness organizations, who argued that landlords often issue renoviction notices, officially known as N-13s, for minor work as a pretext to raise rents.
"Our gut sense is that, even though staff can't tell us that a lot of these renovictions are spurious, it is nonetheless a problem in Ottawa and that we want to address it," Leiper said. "When I take a look around my own neighbourhood, the use of N-13s to evict people out of their buildings is relatively common."
Bylaw would be expensive, staff warn
The staff report noted that landlord-tenant relations are purely matters of provincial jurisdiction, and the provincial government has passed legislative changes that could better protect tenants. Those changes haven't yet been proclaimed into force. If they are, they might duplicate or conflict with the bylaw.
Staff warned that a bylaw would be expensive to draw up, implement and enforce. It could also have unintended consequences, possibly pushing landlords to use other means to evict tenants.
Troster said her motion would avoid some of those issues. It gives staff a three-month delay to seek information from the province about legislative plans. It would also delay work on other bylaws to free up staff resources.
Staff would have until the second quarter of next year to come back with their report on the bylaw.
The permission process under the Hamilton model requires landlords to prove renovations are significant enough that they require a vacant unit.
Landlords also have to show they've informed tenants of their rights and provided either alternative accommodation or compensation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
