WHEN the City of North Vancouver first enacted its bylaw requiring landlords to pay for costs of dismantling growops on their properties, it waded into an area of extra-judicial punishment increasingly popular with authorities.
The reasons are obvious: The measures penalize - and therefore hopefully deter - illegal activities without requiring the standards of criminal court; tenants can disappear much more easily than property owners.
To an extent, such measures make sense. There are liabilities that go along with running a rental business. And municipalities are obliged to protect the health and safety of their residents - including future tenants.
There are, however, some pesky civil liberties to be considered. Landlords aren't held responsible for any other criminal activity their tenants may get up to; nor are they sent a bill for them afterwards. Laws also provide tenants with privacy rights including reasonable notice when a landlord wants to come calling.
Most honest owners who suspect something is up will go to the police rather than risk substantial damage to their property. It's then up to police to get a search warrant.
Sure, that system can be slow, but it also establishes important checks and balances. Renters and owners alike expect to be free from unreasonable snooping - unless there's a good reason for it, backed up by a judge.
Asking landlords to be the police - beyond what's expected of any other reasonable citizen - isn't fair. The city is right to revisit its regulations.
This bylaw should be repealed.
