We Already Pay Property Taxes To Fund By-Law Officers and Licensing Will Just Lead To Higher Rents For Those Who Can Least Afford It!

There have been lots of positive changes over the past few years for those who invested their hard-earned money and took on the risk of buying Hamilton rental properties.

First of all we have seen a lot of property appreciation and that has led to more and more great people investing in our City.  Also, we have experienced a large wave of really great renters choosing our amazing City as their new home. 

Hamilton now is seen as a place to put down roots. A place to create a business and create jobs.  And a wonderful environment to raise children.  We have experienced newcomers from around the world come to Canada and decide to rent and make their home a “Hamilton Home.” 

However, Hamilton landlords still face huge challenges.

Challenges For Hamilton Landlords: Landlord Licensing is the Easy, But Wrong Answer

There is a new effort to license landlords in some wards of our city.  Hamilton landlord licensing has been an issue in the past and good sense has, fortunately, prevailed.

Canadian Apartment Magazine recently interviewed a landlord who has years of experience owning student rental properties. 

He is also a member of the Ontario Landlords Association. 

Landlord Licensing Turns Away Good Investors and Hurts Tenants

According to the report landlords want high quality rental housing and bad landlords exist and should be shut down.

However, we already have well paid by-law officers to police the situation.  Licensing will essential just add more costs to landlords (who are already paying for the by-law office via property taxes) and these raising costs will eventually be sifted down to students who are often renting on tight budgets. 

What is licensing really all about?

It’s about highly paid by-law office employees not doing their job and instead of being held accountable, the City wants to punish landlords (who are taking a risk, investing their money, and also often struggling to run their rental business) with new fees. 

These new fees will then be put on struggling tenants who don’t want higher rents as many are already concerned about being able to pay for books.  Why should landlords who create good rental housing, and students on tight budgets be forced to pay for ineffective City employees who have high salaries and job security? 

Why not put the spot light on these by-law officials and train those who aren’t performing and replace those that refuse to improve?

Hamilton Landlords Say No To Landlord Licensing 

We say YES to safe, high quality housing. 

We also say YES to put the burden of enforcement on the existing bylaw department and ask them to “do their jobs” instead of adding extra costs on small landlords and students!

If the current by-law officials don’t like all the work that comes as part of their job, they can resign.  Then let’s look into hiring students and small landlords to make sure we have the best student housing situation around!