District of North Vancouver bylaw officers could soon be throwing the ticket book at landlords who let their rental units fall into dereliction.
District council began debating in December a proposal to increase the maximum penalty for violating the standards and maintenance bylaw from $2,000 to $10,000 for those convicted of a summary offence under the Offence Act, and increasing fines for people violating the bylaw with lesser infractions.
The discussion sprang from the district's affordable housing strategy, which "encourages the maintenance of purpose-built rental to the end of its economic life.” The rule changes would mainly target cases where residents’ health and safety were being put at risk. The intent is to give the municipality better tools beyond the province's Residential Tenancy Act and B.C. Building Code.
The changes would be subject to a public hearing, but members of council were generally open to the idea at the Dec. 11 meeting.
“We need to put some teeth into (our bylaw) so we can preserve our older residential stock, to maintain a certain level of affordability,” said Coun. Doug MacKay-Dunn. “We have to be very careful about penalties because sometimes penalties become just the cost of doing business. It has to be ... the hot stove. You put your hand on the hot stove, you get burned. You have to make sure that the stove is hot enough.”
Coun. Roger Bassam expressed a similar sentiment.
“I think it's one example of how we have lagged behind around enforcement and penalties. A lot of the penalties that are in place now are so almost trivial that they do not provide motivation for compliance. So this is a step in the right direction,” said Coun. Roger Bassam. “I would suggest there are probably a few areas of municipal operation that would benefit from us reviewing our penalties and compliance opportunities.”
Coun. Lisa Muri, however, questioned how enforceable it would the changes would be. Since 2011 only 15 people have registered complaints, according to a staff report.
“I think increasing the fines is good if we're ever in a situation where we do get a complaint. But I'm just not sure how we're proactive in ensuring that a reasonable standard of maintenance is kept up on residential rental properties and strata properties for that matter and make it really effective,” she said.
