City Council rejects Toronto-style inspections for London, Ontario. apartments – London | Globalnews.ca

City councilors voted against considering how Toronto-style inspections can be used in apartments in London, Ontario, despite protests from groups representing tenants.

The Toronto-style inspections in question are currently carried out through RentSafeTOa statute compliance program that aims to keep Toronto landlords in line with apartment building maintenance standards.

The program includes building assessments at least once every three years, a phone system to track and respond to service requests from tenants, and a registration fee to be paid by landlords.

On Tuesday, the councilors received a city staff report that he recommended against bringing a similar program to London, adding that an additional 37 law enforcement officers and a similar number of fire prevention officers would need to be recruited to run the program locally.

Tuesday’s meeting agenda also included letters of Executive Director of Neighborhood Legal Services Kristina Pagniello Y CEO of Life Spin, Jacqueline Thompsonboth members of the London Tenants and Landlords Task Force.

The two said the task force was not briefed or consulted on the city’s recommendation and instead want to share the task force’s perspective before a decision is made.

London ACORN, the local branch of a national tenant advocacy group, wrote in another letter that a RentSafeTO program should be implemented in London. The group also staged a rally outside city hall during Tuesday’s meeting to further amplify their call.

During the meeting, Ward 4 Count. Jesse Helmer made a motion for City staff to present a business case for a RentSafe London program, so that it can be considered during deliberations for the City’s next multi-year budget, which would cover 2024-2027.

trending stories

• $350K raised for a Burger King worker who received a puny gift bag for 27 years of service

• Arrest made in shooting that killed 6, wounded 30 at Chicago-area 4th of July parade

Helmer praised RentSafeTO’s performance thus far in Toronto, telling his fellow councilmembers, “This approach of evaluating every few years, rating buildings, and then auditing those where significant problems are found…is the kind of approach proactive fit for London”.

“By asking for a business case… it buys us time because we’ve heard from some members of the Landlord-Tenant Task Force that they’d like to weigh in on this idea and talk about it,” Helmer said.

“This is our way of pointing the new council in a particular direction and hopefully getting them to go down that route,” Ward 5 Coun added. Maureen Cassidy, who seconded Helmer’s motion.

district 1 county. Michael van Holst was quick to disagree, adding that “a lot of this seems to be wasted energy.”

“I see this mainly as an administrative thing. We’re creating a bigger government and we don’t really get much out of it,” van Holst added.

District 2 County Shawn Lewis also disagreed with Helmer’s motion, adding that some of the advocacy directed at the council should be directed elsewhere.

“Things like the Landlord and Tenant Board court backlog issue is not something the council can fix, it’s an Ontario government responsibility,” Lewis said. “Advocacy must happen with our MPPs.”

Helmer’s motion failed by a vote of 10 to 3. Those in favor were Helmer, Cassidy and Ward 9 Coun. Anne Hopkins. District 3 County. Mo Salih and Ward 11 Coun. Stephen Turner was absent from the meeting.

Shortly thereafter, the council voted to receive the information contained in the report from city staff, however, no further action was taken.

Speaking to Global News after Tuesday’s vote, London ACORN member Jordan Smith said he was “hugely disappointed, but not that surprised at this point.”

Smith, who is also part of the Landlord and Tenant Task Force, added that London ACORN will continue to push for local implementation of RentSafeTO.

“We are going to have a new council in six months and we are in this fight to win it because this program is not just a good idea, it is an absolutely essential idea,” Smith said.