Committee Recommends New By-laws to Council to Protect Renters From Heat & Water Disconnection
Owen Sound's Corporate Services Committee wants a new by-law letting the city act faster when rental units lose heat, water or other essential services.
Owen Sound’s Corporate Services Committee is recommending the city adopt a proposed new Vital Services By-law that would let staff respond faster when a landlord shuts off or fails to maintain heat, water, electricity, gas, fuel or air conditioning in a rental unit.
The committee voted July 9 to send the draft by-law, along with a package of proposed changes to the Property Standards By-law, to City Council. Council has not yet made a decision; the committee’s role is to recommend, and the by-laws would return to Council for adoption at a later meeting.
Under the current system, when a vital service is cut off, the city has to issue a property standards order, and the Building Code Act sets a minimum compliance period of 19 days before staff can step in.
According to the staff report, that means a tenant whose heat fails in winter could go 19 days or more without it before an officer can act.
The proposed Vital Services By-law would allow shorter compliance timelines and immediate action where a serious health or safety risk exists. It would replace the city’s existing Heat By-law, which covers only heat and does not give staff the power to order repairs or carry out the work themselves.
The draft by-law sets out what landlords must provide and when — including adequate heat between September 15 and May 31, and a continuous supply of potable water, hot water, electricity and gas.
Staff have proposed set fines of $500 to $1,000, which would require approval from the Ministry of the Attorney General before they can be used.
The draft by-law’s broader penalty provisions allow fines up to $100,000, with higher amounts possible for continuing offences or where a landlord profited from the violation.
The committee also recommended a set of proposed amendments to the Property Standards By-law, which is an existing by-law. Among the changes:
model mould provisions developed by the Ontario Association of Property Standards Officers and a provincial working group;
a clarified pest standard that names bedbugs explicitly, prompted by an appeal in which someone argued a bedbug was not “injurious” because it does not spread disease;
and new limits on boarding up buildings.
Under the proposed boarding changes, a building could not be boarded simply because it is vacant. Minor damage, such as a broken window, could be boarded for 60 days; damage from fire, explosion or other catastrophic causes could be boarded for a maximum of 15 months.
Exemptions would apply for buildings with a valid permit, an active development application, heritage status, or a provincial or federal order requiring them to stay secured.
The staff report says the city’s By-law Enforcement Division received 55 habitability complaints in 2025.
Staff traced the changes to concerns raised through the RentSafe Owen Sound Collaborative, which presented to the committee in November 2024 and asked that mould-repair language be added to city by-laws, and to a November 2023 council request to review boarded-up storefronts in the downtown River District.
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The staff report says the city’s By-law Enforcement Division received 55 habitability complaints in 2025 — 21 involving vital services, 13 involving pests and 11 involving water damage and mould — and that many concerns likely go unreported because tenants fear reprisal or do not know where to turn.
Separately, the committee recommended Council adopt a proposed new Regulatory By-law Management Policy, which would set a rolling eight-year schedule for reviewing the city’s 59 regulatory by-laws and assign each one to a staff lead.
The attached schedule lists several new by-laws staff are considering in the coming years, including a renovation-licensing program aimed at “renovictions” and a vacant building registry in 2027 and 2028, and an encampment protocol slated for 2028.
If Council adopts the property standards and vital services recommendations, staff would bring the by-laws forward for final approval and apply to the province for approval of the set fines.
The city has said it will issue a media release and update its by-law enforcement webpage once the changes are in place.
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