Halifax council moves ahead with proposed rental property registry

The Halifax region is closer to havinga mandatory rental property registry.

On Tuesday, regional council voted 12-2 in favour of a proposal to create a registry that would make bylaw violations public on the municipality's open data website, despite concerns raised by some landlords.

"I think there is definitely a thirst among the public for this information," said Matt Covey, the division chief of fire prevention with Halifax Fire.

Covey, along withSergio Grbac, the city's supervisor of building standards,prepared the report council discussed.

So far in 2019, Covey said he's received more than200 disclosure requests for openorders andcases on existing properties.

Making a list of all the rentals

Covey said the municipality does not have a list of all the rentals in the city.

A registry would allow for a proactive inspection on rental units that would not require someone to make a complaint.

The Investment Property Association of Nova Scotia wanted the proposal put on hold, but councillorsdecided a report on the bylaw amendments could begin as longit considers the association's concerns.

Coun. Sam Austin said he would wait to see the details, but thinks the changes are necessary.

He said sometimes tenants are afraid of filing a bylaw complaint because they're afraid of getting kicked out.

"Weshould not be allowing affordable housing in this city to be substandard housing," Austin said. "You shouldn't have to trade affordability for basic human dignity and so I think this is absolutely needed."

Registry pushback

Coun. Steve Adams voted against the proposal. He said it reminded him of a gun registry.

"Legal gun owners are going to register and those that aren't are not going to," Adams said.

"The same with the property owners. We'll have a database of all kinds of people who are in compliance because if they're not in compliance, they certainly aren't going to register their property or license it for inspection."

Halifax staff decided against recommending landlord licensing because of fears that such a system could increase rental costs.

Staff hope to bring back recommendations on a rental registry by the end of the year.