A group in Halifax is pushing city council to create a website so tenants can research the conditions of an apartment building or rental unit before moving in.
City officials say some of the most frequent complaints from renters are about rodents, bugs and heating issues.
Tenant Lisa Fairn is dealing with water damage and mold, which didn’t appear until a month after she moved in.
“My lungs are not even 100 per cent. I’m on two puffers right now because of this mold,” says Fairn.
She says she has been waiting for months to have the issue fixed and eventually joined Acorn, an organization that advocates for tenants.
The group is now working with the city in the hopes of building a website that would alert potential renters of apartment flaws.
“If many tenants were complaining about mold that would be tracked on the website and a prospective tenant would be able to look at that information and make an informed decision before they sign a lease,” says Acorn’s Evan Coole.
Fairn says the website would have made a difference in her case.
“Definitely it would have because then I wouldn’t have moved from my old place into this place.”
The city likes the idea of using a website but says it’s currently focusing on landlord licensing.
Units are only checked for infractions if a tenant raises an issue, but with landlord licensing, all units would be checked for infractions on a routine basis.
“We’re issuing hundreds of orders every year to bring a particular unit or particular property up to a minimum standard,” says Matt Covey, the manager of building standards.
“So we know if we go into a licensing regime, we’re going to get into more buildings, and that number is going to increase exponentially.”
Covey is among those working on a report headed for city council that explores landlord licensing.
“We’re looking at other jurisdictions to see what they’re doing and we’re looking at our own regulatory framework as it exists right now to see if it would be supportive of a licensing model,” he says.
A website is expected at some point, but a launch date has yet to be set.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Matthew Woodman
