Waterloo to crack down on owners of vacant properties

kitchenerpost.ca
June 27, 2016
By Paige Desmond

Waterloo is creating a new bylaw that will help officials crack down on the owners of derelict, vacant buildings.

On Monday councillors gave staff the OK to craft the new rules which will allow bylaw officers to more quickly take action to secure a building, even if they haven't been able to reach the property owner.

"It really is just about being able to act quicker," said Shayne Turner, director of enforcement services.

Under the new bylaw, staff will be able to issue orders to a property owner to secure a vacant property within 24 to 48 hours, more quickly than they can ask a property owner to do so now under the property standards bylaw.

"We need to take action on the most serious issues and when it's serious we need to take action quickly and this gives us the tools to do so," Mayor Dave Jaworsky said.

Turner said orders under property standards have a 14-day period to be addressed because those orders can be appealed.

Under the new bylaw, if a building urgently needs to be secured, the city can hire its own contractor to do the work and bill the owner.

Coun. Melissa Durrell said she welcomed the new rules.

"This was borne out of some complaints in uptown," she said. "There are some vacant houses that we were trying to deal with and now we'll have the appropriate way to move forward and (doing) it faster will make our neighbourhoods safer."

The new bylaw comes on the heels of issues with Waterloo landlord Terry Good.

Good owns at least eight properties in the city and almost all are vacant. They've attracted vandals and squatters because they aren't secure.

City officials have tried to deal with the neglected properties but have limited power to force Good to take action.

Durrell said in an interview there are a couple of landlords and at least eight properties near city hall she can think of that have been problematic. Neighbours get frustrated when the buildings remain insecure, she said.

"When this is the house next to you, you want this dealt with as fast as possible," she said.

A similar bylaw is in place in Kitchener, where Turner was in charge of bylaw before he came to Waterloo.

The bylaw also helps out Waterloo Fire Rescue.

Turner said there have been times where a building has been damaged by the fire and the property owner doesn't respond to secure the property.

Firefighters have no choice but to stay on scene until the property is dealt with.

"There have been some challenges with having to have staff remain on-site while a building stays insecure after a fire," he said.

The bylaw will apply to partially vacant buildings as well. For example if an apartment building has some vacant units that aren't secure, officials can take action.