Windsor to pilot residential rental licensing in student-populated areas

Concerns over "utterly deplorable conditions" and keeping landlords accountable to maintain proper living standards have led Windsor city council to approve a residential rental housing licensing pilot project in two wards.

Windsor's Ward 1 and 2, which contain the main campuses of the University of Windsor and St. Clair College, will take part in the pilot. The program will allow for city inspections of residential rental housing units on a regular basis, with a proposed annual licensing fee of $616.

At this time, it's unknown when the pilot will begin. 

During a six-hour debate Monday, councillors heard from 18 delegates who were mostly in support of the pilot.

One of the main justifications was that most students steer clear of making complaints through the city's existing 311 system because they worry that landlords may penalize them for doing so.

"The complaint-based system does not work," said Ward 2 resident Mike Cardinal. "With a licensing system, the city is then allowed to be proactive. They can check out the ads that are out there ... More importantly, it's much simpler for the city to prosecute illegal landlords."

"Look at London, Waterloo, other cities — the question becomes very simple: Are you licensed or not?"

As a landlord himself, Cardinal said licensing rental properties would be a win-win for owners and renters. Landlords could advertise themselves as being in full compliance with licensing conditions, while tenants reap the benefits of knowing their landlord has to upkeep the property. 

Others, like Stephen Pickard of the Windsor Landlords Association, disagree. He said residential rental licensing "wouldn't achieve anything" and would only serve to pass licensing fees down to tenants — while also penalizing good landlords who comply with the rules.

"In the same way that you're not hearing complaints of the tenants of the bad landlords and you're not having the bad landlord voluntarily come forward, there's no reason to believe that this is going to change," said Pickard.

"The bad landlords are still not going to appear. The tenants of the bad landlords are still not going to complain. But we're going to have a regime that's going to cost the tenants who are the least able to pay."

Take a look at the conditions seen in some rental properties:

But for most other delegates, the living conditions in many student rentals are far too poor not to justify introducing a rental licensing program in Windsor.

According to Legal Assistance of Windsor's Anna Colombo, it could help address the "utterly deplorable conditions" that her clinic has seen.

"Electrical outlets that spark every time they're used, ceilings that crumble on to kitchen counters, roofs that leak causing bedroom ceilings to sag, holes in floors that open to standing water," she said.

"We have landlords who refuse to fix broken toilets, leaving tenants to use a bucket."

Despite supporting pilot, mayor expresses skepticism

At the tail end of Monday's marathon meeting, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens made clear that he is "fundamentally" against the idea of a residential rental licensing program, pointing to "existing tools and by-laws" to keep renters safe — such as the hiring of three building by-law officers in 2017.

"You have bad buildings which is the first piece — and then you have bad tenants," said Dilkens.

"You can all appreciate, especially around the university and the college, where you'll have different noise issues and some would say it's just 'students being students.'"

But despite his skepticism, Dilkens said he would support the motion "because it's a sensible way to explore whether it can work."

"As leases expire — probably annually — and the students look to go to other places, that gives a landlord an opportunity to increase the rent to the new tenants coming in. So you can bet your bottom dollar that they're going to pass along every penny through this licensing regime on to the tenants," said Dilkens.

"But I think this gives us an opportunity to collect data and see whether or not it makes sense to roll it out city-wide, to see if it works."