Proposed Landlord Licensing Bylaw

Overview

When we were made aware of the proposed by-law for landlord licensing from The City of Cornwall back in June, we were concerned about the possible added regulation being imposed on our small business owners and immediately got involved. We participated in a meeting with the Landlord Association of Cornwall & SDG, The City of Cornwall Planning officials, the Manager of Social and Housing Services and the acting Fire Chief to discuss this proposed by-law. We discussed issues in the report and by-law concerning the clarity of terms, clarity of responsibilities of tenants versus the landlord, and concern over the necessity for the by-law at this time. We appreciate that the desire for this by-law is to obtain a complete list of all rental units so that the Fire Department can be prepared to respond to calls, however, we believe that this proposed by-law does not directly target this issue and needs more work. The Fire Chief and Planning Department agreed to review the proposed by-law and further discussions will take place.

Update

The City started their consultation with a survey which can be accessed here.

Our research into the cost of operating a Residental Rental Licensing program suggested that if the program was outlined in the draft bylaw was to be operated on a cost-recovery model, then the $50 fee cited in the bylaw was to low.

You can read the article here.

Read the draft bylaw and the report to the Council here

Resolution

Please check back for updates on this issue.

Updated November 23 2020