Update on Residential Tenancy Act For Manitoba And Us - Posted Sept15/10

I have an update on the post I made on Sept 15/10 entitled "Residential Tenancy Act For Manitoba And Us".

I received a response to that post from one of the candidates running in the Mynarski Ward (David Polsky):

Hi xxx The Residential Tenacies Act is under the durisdiction of the Province of Manitoba. You would have to contact your MLA George Hickes at 945-3706 or by email - george.hickes@leg.gov.mb.ca.

Or you can contact the Honorable Kerrie Irvin-Ross. She is the Provincial Minister responsible for Residential Tenacies Act. Her phone number is 945-6190 and email - minhcd@leg.gov.mb.ca.
Thank you.

I took his advise. I sent an email to George Hickes and the Honorable Kerrie Irvin-Ross.

George Hickes

I have a neighbour on my block who has disrupted the neighbourhood the entire summer. They have had loud drinking parties that last until 6:00am every night that it has been nice this summer. Finally on Aug 20 at 9:30am the police arrived at the house. The children and dog were removed. CFS arrived on the street. The kids and dog were taken away. The next day the adults were taken away. A week later the property manager had the residence cleaned up (after throwing up when he entered the unit). Then a week later the same people moved back in. The same people were given new furniture and clothing by CFS. And the same people partied all night long this last weekend on Friday night and Saturday night. They were yelling, swearing and screaming at each other in their back yard. One was smashing the other persons car in their back yard. How long must a neighbourhood put up with this kind of behaviour.

They do not appear to be involved in crime, so the Safe Communities and Neighbourhoods Act does not apply as of yet. These issues fall under the categories of The Residential Tenancy Act and The Neighbourhood Liveability By-Law.

There needs to be a change in the Residential Tenancies Act in section 67 - Landlord to investigate complaints. The section states the landlord needs to "make a reasonable effort to remedy the situation". This is a very subjective statement. There needs to be a footnote and rules on what is a reasonable effort. There needs to be accountability that the reasonable effort was done. Each recurrence of an issue must escalate. There must be a limit to the number of complaints on each type of issue.

When sections of the Neighbourhood Liveability By-Law are violated, the landlord must be held accountable and must be given specific criteria to act on and specific outcomes if issues are not resolved.

I have been writing a blog about my street http://adayinthehood.blogspot.com/. I began on Aug 22, after a particularly bad week on the block. I have specific issues relating to this one "party duplex" in my blog. It is located at XXXXXX. It is known to the Police, to the city By-Law office, to CFS, and who knows how many other places.

The police have enough work to do. They should not be forced to come to these problem houses over and over again because the current Acts do nothing to protect citizens. The By-Law officers do not seem to be able to enforce violations, they are aware of issues and file reports on issues, and request that issues be resolved. But they do not seem to be able to put the pressure needed on landlords to correct the issues.

The City of Winnipeg, and in particular the North End has many houses like this one that need to be taken care of. I do not want your office to tell me it is a city issue and the city to tell me it is a provincial issue. Someone has to take responsibility. Someone has to review these Acts and ensure they are working to take care of all citizens of Winnipeg and Manitoba.

Thankyou

My email was forwarded by the office of the Honorable Kerri Irvin-Ross to Gord Mackintosh's office.

On behalf of the Honourable Kerri Irvin-Ross, Minister of Housing and Community Development, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail.

As the matter you address falls under the jurisdiction of Honourable Gord Mackintosh, Minister responsible for the Residential Tenancies Act, I have taken the liberty of forwarding your e-mail to their office for review.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us. I will ensure this is brought to the Minister's attention.

Yours sincerely,

Nancy Renwick Special Assistant to the

Minister of Housing and Community Development
Room 358-Legislative Building
(204) 945-6190

I finally got a response from Gord Mackintosh's office.

So, I do have some power in resolving these issues. If the landlord does not resolve these issues in a manor I feel is reasonable, I can contact the Residential Tenancies Branch. I will keep that in mind if the Party House starts up again.

I am also glad to see that I can file a complaint if I feel these issues are not being taken care of.

Knowledge is a good thing.