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.

The Residential Tenancies Act for Manitoba and Us

I found a copy of the Residential Tenancies Act for Manitoba on the provincial website at

http://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/statutes/ccsm/r119e.php

Its a good read, if you have the time. I copied a few choice sections at the bottom of this blog entry for your convenience. Items of interest, so to speak.
It seems that the Landlord is obligated to investigate complaints about their tenant(s). They must "make a reasonable effort to remedy the situation". Thats a very subjective statement in a legal tenancy act. What is considered a reasonable effort? Who determines that a reasonable effort was made? How reasonable was the effort? How accountable is the landlord to prove that it was a reasonable effort? What if the neighbours do not agree in the reasonableness of the effort? Do we make another complaint? Do we wait and see how reasonable the next effort is to remedy the situation? Is there a limit to the number of reasonable efforts the landlord can and should make to remedy the situation? Who counts the number of efforts the landlord makes in trying to remedy the situation? Then there is the clause that states a landlord cannot evict if there is a school age child attending school currently.
I just want to sleep at night. I just don't want to hear loud swearing and threats all night. I just want a back yard that is not so full of wasps from the apples down the lane that I can actually stay outside for any period of time. I just want to get rid of the mice in my house now that the landlord did house cleaning at the party house. I just want to be included somewhere in the Residential Tenancies Act with some sort of rights.".

Landlord to investigate complaints

67          If a person informs the landlord that a contravention of an obligation imposed by section 73 (tenant's duty not to disturb others) or 74 (tenant's duty not to impair others' safety) has occurred or is likely to occur, the landlord shall without delay enquire into the complaint and make a reasonable effort to remedy the situation.

Obligation to keep unit clean

70          A tenant shall maintain ordinary health, cleanliness and sanitation standards in the rental unit and the residential complex.

Duty not to disturb others

73          A tenant shall not unreasonably disturb, or allow another person the tenant permits in the residential complex to unreasonably disturb,

(a) the enjoyment for all usual purposes of the residential complex or any other rental unit by the landlord, another tenant or occupant of the residential complex, or a person permitted in the residential complex by any of those persons;

(b) the enjoyment of adjacent property for all usual purposes by occupants of that property.

Impairment of safety by tenant

74          A tenant or a person the tenant permits in the residential complex shall not by act or omission impair the safety or other lawful right or interest of the landlord, another tenant or occupant of the residential complex, or a person permitted in the residential complex by any of those persons.

No termination when school age child

94(1)       When a tenant resides with a child in a rental unit that is conveniently accessible to a school, the landlord shall not terminate the tenancy during the school year unless the child is no longer attending a school to which the rental unit is conveniently accessible.

Termination for causes other than failure to pay

96(1)       A landlord may give the tenant a notice of termination if

(a) the tenant contravenes or fails to comply with any of the following provisions of this Act:

(i) repealed, S.M. 1993, c. 45, s. 27,

(ii) subsection 53(2) (change of locks or doors:  rental unit),

(iii) subsection 53(3) (change of locks or doors:  residential complex),

(iv) section 70 (obligation to keep unit clean),

(v) subsection 72(1) (obligation to take care and repair damage),

(vi) section 73 (duty not to disturb others),

(vii) section 74 (impairment of safety by tenant),

(viii) section 76 (overcrowding),

(ix) section 78 (no misrepresentation of premises), or

(x) subsection 42(1) (assign or sublet without consent),

and the tenant fails to remedy the contravention within a reasonable time after receiving written notice to do so by the landlord;

(b) the tenant breaches a material term of the tenancy agreement and fails to remedy the breach within a reasonable time after receiving written notice to do so by the landlord; or

(c) the tenant,

(i) other than a tenant referred to in subclause (ii), fails to comply, within a reasonable time after having received written notice to do so from the landlord, with a rule as required by subsection 11(2) and the observance of the rule is essential to the reasonable operation of the residential complex, or

(ii) who is a tenant in a unit under The Condominium Act, fails to comply, within a reasonable time after having received written notice to do so from the landlord, with the declaration, by-laws or rules under The Condominium Act.