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WATl’rRUX) CHWNICLE -Wednesday. May 14, 20“ ° 3 Caught in the crossfire ‘ O C 0 U I O Tenants womed they maysee their rent hiked to cover the costs of the atys rental lwense fee BYJAMES liaison ing the wrong peopleâ€" renters. years. landlords must also pay to renew V _ ! if” __ Chronicle Sta/f f “We're caught, as tenants, in a war their licenses annually. but renewal costs y g " 53g between the cityand landlords." she said. aretypically Irmer. . "i t appears renters are about to he The provincial rent increase guideline In its first year, the bylaw generated 3 ,; “g“? I pulled into the ongoing fight between is calculated annually by averaging the about $1.5 million in fees and cost about 9 1 ' . . a {4 ' landlords and the city over Waterloo's per cent change in the Ontario Consumer $1.1 million to run, leaving the city with ' ' .. controversial rental license bylaw. Price Index during the previous 12 more than $340,000 in revenue. The r \ ' “if; . Landlord Wally lanzen is in the months, from lune 20I2 to May 20I3. bylaw also produced a surplus of f process of applying to the province to The Residential Tenancies Act states $5IB.000 last year. 41. request permission to raise his rent about the rent increase guideline set out by the Last month, the city said it would ’ f A? nine times the provincially approved rate province mnnot exceed 2.5 per cent, even begin actively searching for unlicensed 3 to help recoup some of the costs assot'iat if the (PI calculation is higher. rental houses in the city and start laying . ,;3 ed with the bylaw. it , charges where appropriate. '. lanzen owns 81 rental townhouse units We re caught, as tenants, As of the April I registration deadline. ,.. at 20 Mayfield Ave. and 100 Bluevale St. N. in a war between the City roughly half of the estimated 6,000 rental and has applied to the landlord and ion ,, properties in the city had been licensed / -' am Board of Ontario to increase rent In and the landlords. - virtually unchanged from ayear ago. . -- t more than seven per cent this year, mirth (‘ When the city passed the bylaw two " ‘ - fl â€" mPlnch . . . higher than the 0.8 per cent rent lllt'l‘t‘ast‘ / . “wmmmw um that he, mm“ years ago. it was assumed it would take , i ’- approved by the provmcitil government a" _ kc L hrrlandlord’ about five years for full compliance. It is X ' . for 3014 g"”'"“ f"j"" "’ “w" ‘ . “mm intended to be revenue-neutral. M . i (ON) (L\30( raid with the finial license bylaw . l lt \ tut t’chIlsL‘ that I in incurring, so is Pain of that push for more compliance 4 it lair? No. l don't want to pass II on to lllt‘ landlords may apply to the board for involves getting out into rental communi- tenants." said lal'tlx‘ll oi whether or not it tin increase above the provincial limit. ties to find unlicensed properties. » ' was in” to pass the- added costs ul llit‘ the (“V says the license fee is not a In March, uniformed rental bylaw om ‘ Intent on to his tenants. l'hr- l‘li\ intro tenant tax. and landlords are providing cers went door-to-door at the Mayfleld ' tllltl‘tl thi- bylaw in 2012 t'otilusing information to tenants. The Avenue housing complex to ask tenants “Hut complexes are all about n-wnut- llt erm- is designed to remedy serious for copies of rental or lease agreements, l and t'ttwnst's We can't rust tillst‘ it‘ll! l\\llt‘\ pertaining to poor property stan- cancelled cheques or other bank records [ llt‘t dust' oi rent I ontrol. and my comm-s thirds, building code violations. electrical proving payment to the landlord, and any |ll\l WM" up huge. so in realm l inst ltisl .I sitlt’l‘v' hazards arid fire code issues that other documentation provmg the units ‘ huge amount of valui- in my properties" would have otherwmc gone undetected. are rentals. In March, tenants [mug at lllt' Bil tilllls When the (Lity of Waterloo introduced launch was hirtous wttlt bylaw officers on Hui-held Ave-nut- rm t-ivt-d nutn l' oi lllt' lwlaw two years ago. it never intended for “harassing" his tenants at home stutt- . lllt‘ll potential rt‘Ill ittt reuse wilt-(titt- Iiih lot the added fees to be passed on the ten he said he had already informed the t it) . l fill t lint/r” has referred to lllt' lit t-itw ants, said lim Benny. director of municipal the units were being rented out ” l hat ' ll‘t‘ us A "It'll-int tin " t-nlort I'ltll'lll services. was totally inappropriate." he said 1 [or Peter ll'llllldll who ll\t‘\ Ill lfll" oi llut he» n't‘alls hearing landlords threat lattrcii t‘llht‘l wants lht' lit t'llwl' thow llllli\, the will int lt‘il\(' would on to in.“ tmm-chargesrintoremmdui scrapped, or expanded to ttwt-r all round â€". l .litttittttt [ti 7 hit pvt rent or it” It! [ll'l trig tllt‘ ( ltv'i Initial Consultant)" prot‘t'sx units in lllt‘ tll\ ( tll’tt-nllt‘, Apartment A, month tnon- than Million-n vt'iu wink-developing the bylaw buildings (”rimming tour or mon- llllll\ ' ll \ .iit t‘\ll.l tl)\l thi- Lulu-r Hi two \.tltl ’lvi- heard people suggest they would ilfl‘t‘ll'rllpl innit thi- llt't'llM' .' in and Milli-l ll‘llrll'll\ I an! .iflottl do that but I haven't heard that s been lie Idll\ the bylaw disr lllllllltlll>l\ Liz-l ‘ \\t- n- in .l rental nitration wr' lt' on turtlirmml." he said "We ditlitt l'thMtlll 435mm unalli-r landlords like himself and l'\t'tl or lllllllt'tl nu lllllt‘\ and tin list oi ih.it winning) ' would t()l\\l(l('l moving his business out A ,. . n-ttt.tl tiltlllillx M \llttll " \.|lll li~hiii.iii llll' ( osts of the llt‘t'n'sl‘ rangi- hum uquti-rltxnlih.ingi~s.m~nt "\.’Klt‘ ',‘¢ liottt out pt‘f\ll‘tl|\'l' out ”plinth an iv S lid to $337 irrtinn. but other siesta titted " l llt'\ threw tlii' not out too lug ' if *" f" 7 t. .\ [i.|\ it llltI\t' in km lll‘nt'l or inn-w into an lusts not (“Vl‘l'l‘d by this {of tmltitlt' an Linn-ti soul lll‘ thought the inlays would ' .|ll.llilllt"ll building Mitt h i~ not lumih vim ”ll alum-iv authority ttvsmttontWi-n rust I lat it down on xlilill‘ltt ri-nml with ‘ ‘ llll'lltll\ luv waits um estimated $32“), or “it per watt thr tilllVI'r\ill(“\ and tint-t Illlilglllt‘tl (are "N“ M m Matthew ""“ t till 0 Illt h who In. x .i iv» dim.- . ~.-i-.it .i heating, ventilation and a" t‘rmdi lllt'tll‘\ would target hi“ Hutu ”l" at 20 Maw-m A” m Wflerloo say their land i' ‘ , _ it applying to macaw the" vent to help vet mm» or door: limit lr-hnun and has tho-v t hil ruining inspection every year an militia! lilmil ill!" I in mould \ hurry mm. ”M 00 W my,‘ rental Home bylaw din-n til llt'l iM1l,\-illtl the bylaw is target ed slim and a £30 police lee every For fun or ”mm-V _ . ~ \ fl . ~ ., ~â€" wâ€"~ "a“. FNJOY ' ӣ23, "‘ _ A ‘ ’ M” “n ~ , ( r I N A 5 ~ " 1 ' t at»! mm- on: in ' mam l emu-econ '. OlnaipcAnchlr