Brampton's rental licence pilot has led to 4,700 inspections: city
Protesting landlords say they're being punished for their tenants' behaviour
Brampton's mayor says its rental licensing pilot is making headway on cracking down on illegal rentals in the city and will forge ahead despite protests from dozens of landlords who demonstrated outside city hall Monday.
Patrick Brown says the city's Residential Rental Licensing (RRL) pilot project — aimed at curbing illegal lodging — has led to 4,700 home inspections and over 600 penalty notices.
City officials displayed several pictures from inspections at a news conference, including images of multiple mattresses on the floor of one room, unclean washrooms and piled up garbage bags in a laundry room.
"Slum landlords really deteriorate the entire neighbourhood and unfortunately have been the breeding ground for activities and treatment of vulnerable individuals that is unacceptable," Brown told reporters.
Initially launched on Jan.1, the two-year RRL pilot requires landlords renting out four or fewer units in wards one, three, four, five and seven to register with the city for an annual $300 licence.
City officials say the pilot protects tenants, but many landlords have been against it since the beginning. Several who have spoken with CBC News say it costs them money, makes them do paperwork and often, their tenants are to blame for the issues flagged by city inspectors.
Namit Sharma, a landlord in Ward 1, was part of the protest. He says he rents out a basement to three people and is a compliant landlord.
"Right now I have none of the rights because I cannot evict a tenant if they are not complying," Sharma said, citing delays at the Ontario Landlord Tenant Board (LTB).
"Tomorrow if my tenant brings two more people inside, what can I do?"
LTB delays still a concern: Landlord association
Azad Goyat is the founder of Brampton Housing Providers Association. The non-profit group was founded in response to the RRL and Goyat said it represents some 1,500 landlords.
Goyat rents out his basement to four people and his first floor to six more. He said he is one of the compliant landlords.
"We provide housing to the residents … rather than supporting us, we are [being] called slumlords and we are compliant," Goyat said.
Goyat's association is asking the province to fix the LTB delays, which he says leads to landlords being penalized for problem tenants.
As of May, there was a backlog of more than 53,000 cases at the LTB. Between 2022 and 2023, there were 37,690 applications to evict tenants for non-payment of rent.
Pilot targets 'worst of the worst:' councillor
Since the launch of the pilot, 2,200 landlords have registered for a renting licence while 46 landlords made their illegal units compliant, according to the city.
Coun. Rowena Santos, who is also part of the RRL task force, said illegal lodging has led to 8,000 complaints about parking issues in the month of July alone, followed by 1,700 complaints about property standards.
Those complaints include fire code violations, unsanitary living conditions, as well as Brampton residents flagging online ads asking female renters for sexual favours in exchange for rooming, she said.
"This is the worst of the worst," Santos said.
Vulnerable renters like international students are the most likely to wind up living in rentals like this, city officials said at the news conference.
Brown said the city will hire 38 new bylaw enforcement officers in the next two months — some of whom will tackle the numerous complaints related to the RRL pilot.
Landlords who register before Sept. 30 will receive a 50 per cent discount on the RRL fees, but starting Oct. 1 applicants will have to pay the full $300, according to the Monday news release.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
