(TLN) On Sept. 5, Laval city council adopted By-law L-12519, concerning rights to housing. According to the city, this new legal tool will henceforth be protecting tenants as well as landlords in Laval from circumstances impeding access to safe and secure dwellings.
The new housing code will allow the City of Laval to intervene and demand renovations or repairs in cases where a dwelling, without necessarily being unsanitary, needs work on things such as broken windows, no hot water, inadequate heating, etc. The coming into effect of the regulations is set for March 1, 2018 so that various municipal services can prepare to enforce it.
Long overdue, says mayor
“The housing code was long awaited by citizens and organizations who concern themselves with housing,” says Mayor Marc Demers. “This tool will allow us in a more proactive way to intervene in order to allow all residents to live in housing that is safe and secure.”
The new code will make it possible to do the following things: forbid landlords or tenants to do anything that causes sanitation problems, such as allowing mould to take hold, or not doing anything about pests such as cockroaches or other parasitical insects; establish rules making it mandatory to declare when there are or have been bedbugs in a dwelling. There are other measures, as well.
