Mississauga council will review its heating bylaw to ensure apartment landlords do not blast the heat when outdoor temperatures are well-above seasonal.
Councillors voted unanimously at the Sept. 27 council meeting to direct staff to review the wording and provisions in a city bylaw that dictates when landlords are required to provide adequate heating to apartment units.
Complaints have been trickling in to councillors’ offices and property management companies regarding the temperature of apartment units during September’s unprecedented heat wave, which saw temperatures hit as high as 31 C.
Despite the scorching weather, some landlords have turned off the air conditioning to the buildings and cranked the heat, citing the wording in the city’s bylaw as their justification.
“Our bylaw, because of the word ‘heat’ is really confusing,” said Coun Pat Saito. “Many of the landlords think that because of this bylaw, they’re going to be in violation if they don’t turn the heat on.”
The city’s bylaw states, every landlord of a building that is rented or leased “shall provide … adequate and suitable heat at the owner’s expense between the 15th of September of each year and the first day of June of the following year.”
This does not mean the heat has to be on by Sept. 15; only that it must be available to keep units at about 20 C.
“As far as these lunatic people running these buildings … there’s no common sense,” said Coun. Carolyn Parrish, who added cooling a building should be just as important as heating one.
The Residential Tenancies Act does not consider air conditioning an essential service, and therefore doesn’t set minimum cooling standards.
“I don’t agree that cooling isn’t a necessity,” said Parrish. “If its 40 degrees in your apartment and you’ve got emphysema, it’s a necessity.”
Harold Glick, tenant in a Sherobee Road apartment complex, said his unit was reading 35 C this week, despite paying a higher rent for air conditioning.
“We have four palliative care patients and newborn babies in our building,” said Glick, who remarked conditions had become unliveable for vulnerable tenants.
He went on to say three people in his unit have been taken to hospital with signs of heat stroke.
“It’s the worst. And we have floor-to-ceiling windows so the sun beams in the units all day.”
Tenants in a Bromsgrove Road apartment, owned by O’Shanter Development Company, also claimed they were “sweltering.” Betty Godzwon told The News two people were rushed to hospital as a result of the heat in the building.
Jonathan Krehm, principal of O’Shanter, explained the building has a water-cooled chiller and winterizing the chiller involves draining the water tower.
“To get our HVAC contractor back to refill the water tower and start up the chiller would have taken more than a week,” he said, adding window air conditioners were provided to four tenants in dire need.
Bahar Shadpour, communications co-ordinator for the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), said there’s been discussion at the provincial level to institute a maximum temperature for Ontario’s apartment buildings.
“But it’s hard to come up with a maximum temperature that can be applied to every building in every municipality,” she said.
Mississauga’s bylaw review will consider how adequate heat and cooling can be provided to apartment tenants during extreme and unpredictable weather patterns.
"We’ve got to make smart adjustments for the climate,” said Parrish.
Councillors voted unanimously at the Sept. 27 council meeting to direct staff to review the wording and provisions in a city bylaw that dictates when landlords are required to provide adequate heating to apartment units.
Complaints have been trickling in to councillors’ offices and property management companies regarding the temperature of apartment units during September’s unprecedented heat wave, which saw temperatures hit as high as 31 C.
Despite the scorching weather, some landlords have turned off the air conditioning to the buildings and cranked the heat, citing the wording in the city’s bylaw as their justification.
“Our bylaw, because of the word ‘heat’ is really confusing,” said Coun Pat Saito. “Many of the landlords think that because of this bylaw, they’re going to be in violation if they don’t turn the heat on.”
The city’s bylaw states, every landlord of a building that is rented or leased “shall provide … adequate and suitable heat at the owner’s expense between the 15th of September of each year and the first day of June of the following year.”
This does not mean the heat has to be on by Sept. 15; only that it must be available to keep units at about 20 C.
“As far as these lunatic people running these buildings … there’s no common sense,” said Coun. Carolyn Parrish, who added cooling a building should be just as important as heating one.
The Residential Tenancies Act does not consider air conditioning an essential service, and therefore doesn’t set minimum cooling standards.
“I don’t agree that cooling isn’t a necessity,” said Parrish. “If its 40 degrees in your apartment and you’ve got emphysema, it’s a necessity.”
Harold Glick, tenant in a Sherobee Road apartment complex, said his unit was reading 35 C this week, despite paying a higher rent for air conditioning.
“We have four palliative care patients and newborn babies in our building,” said Glick, who remarked conditions had become unliveable for vulnerable tenants.
He went on to say three people in his unit have been taken to hospital with signs of heat stroke.
“It’s the worst. And we have floor-to-ceiling windows so the sun beams in the units all day.”
Tenants in a Bromsgrove Road apartment, owned by O’Shanter Development Company, also claimed they were “sweltering.” Betty Godzwon told The News two people were rushed to hospital as a result of the heat in the building.
Jonathan Krehm, principal of O’Shanter, explained the building has a water-cooled chiller and winterizing the chiller involves draining the water tower.
“To get our HVAC contractor back to refill the water tower and start up the chiller would have taken more than a week,” he said, adding window air conditioners were provided to four tenants in dire need.
Bahar Shadpour, communications co-ordinator for the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), said there’s been discussion at the provincial level to institute a maximum temperature for Ontario’s apartment buildings.
“But it’s hard to come up with a maximum temperature that can be applied to every building in every municipality,” she said.
Mississauga’s bylaw review will consider how adequate heat and cooling can be provided to apartment tenants during extreme and unpredictable weather patterns.
"We’ve got to make smart adjustments for the climate,” said Parrish.
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