Image: Aaron Sousa/Unsplash

After years of debate, council has passed the Landlord registry.  The city plans on hiring four new employees to administer the registry which will cost about $340,000 a year.

It means property owners will have to register with the city by next April, then keep on top of property standards including how inspections are done.

And any complaints from tenants, should remain anonymous due to routine maintenance.

A rally was held outside city hall Tuesday in support of the registry and President of ACORN, Halifax Peninsula chapter, Hannah Wood says the changes were a long time coming.

“We’re excited to see this finally coming to pass after years of fighting for this,” Wood said. “We’re happy to have had councillors be responsive to this, listen to the concerns of tenants, and listen to the overwhelming concerns they’ve gotten… from the wider population about the deplorable conditions that are in some units [in Halifax].”

“It’s going to allow people to complain about the standards in their units without fear of retaliation. And that’s a big one because, as bad as the issues seem, we’re actually only seeing a small representation of it, because so many people are afraid to speak out,” she said.

Some argued it may make a difficult market even harder for landlords, but overall, the mood was enthusiastic, including inside City Hall.

“This is a good day,” declared Coun. Waye Mason. “This will not impact 99.9 per cent of landlords and property owners; it won’t. It’s going to provide us the tools to go after the ones we know of, in every district all throughout HRM, that are pushing the boundaries and not keeping people safe,” he said.

He said registration will let the city “identify patterns and target certain types of landlords and certain property owners who are repeatedly violating the rules.”

Fines for landlords who don’t comply with the new rules range from $150-10,000.