City to review rules for apartment temperatures after heat wave

Staff will consult on rules requiring temperatures landlords must keep and report back before spring.

Thestar.com
Oct. 4, 2017
By Jennifer Pagliaro

After an unseasonably warm September that left some tenants sweltering in their units, the city will look at changing the requirements for landlords.

Council approved a motion from Councillor Josh Matlow, which was seconded by Mayor John Tory, for staff to consult on amending the bylaw governing heat in apartments and report back early next year.

"We are regularly hearing from tenants across Toronto who are suffering in 30-degree heat in their own homes," Matlow said after the vote. "That's unacceptable. The status quo cannot continue and we need to work together - landlords, tenants and city hall together - to find a solution because peoples' lives are at risk."

Last month, Matlow, who chairs the city's tenant issues committee, was joined by Tory, board of health chair Councillor Joe Mihevc and the city's ombudsman in pleading with landlords to use "common sense" in the middle of a heat wave. At least one tenant was reportedly hospitalized.

The city's existing bylaw requires landlords to maintain a minimum temperature of 21 C between Sept. 15 and June 1.

But landlords, councillors said, are frequently misinterpreting that rule to mean buildings with centralized air must be switched over from air conditioning to heating.

Not only do those rules need to be clarified, Matlow said, but the city should look at setting a maximum temperature.

This is the second time Matlow has moved such a motion, after a similar request was passed by council in 2012. But a push to set a maximum temperature of 26 C died after years of progress updates at various committees that suddenly stopped.

Setting a maximum temperature could require landlords to provide air conditioning when none exists or other interventions, but no specific requirements have been recommended yet.

Tenant advocate Geordie Dent, executive director of the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations, said the renewed consultation is a welcome move.

"We've had this lingering fear for years that people are going to die in heat traps," he said. "I think it's great that they're addressing this issue."

He said there are problem units in the city that are too close to boilers or have poor ventilation that should be addressed through retrofitting. If they can't be fixed, they shouldn't be rented out, he said.

"There was a woman who during winter had to blast A/C units in her unit because it was boiling," located directly above a furnace, Dent said.

Those situations, which are not the norm, are dangerous and need to be remedied immediately, Dent said.

Both Matlow and Dent have suggested that the city's medical officer of health could be responsible in setting the dates for minimum and maximum temperatures, allowing the city to better respond to changing weather events.

"My hope is simply that people don't die," Dent said. "I think that's pretty reasonable."