Landlords Need a Code of Ethics: Bill’s Right On Blog (Opinion)

What would a Code of Ethics for landlords look like? I know we have the Office of the Residential tenancies and the Residential Tendencies Act (2006) but that doesn’t stop some of these (not all) landlords from being rude, demanding and unpleasant to deal with.

I feel so powerless when I hear some of these stories and I have to wonder about the greed in a persons heart, to be so ruthlessly aggressive to getting the maximum return for minimal investment and repairs to a home… At some level you have to realize the family you are renting to is a mother with sons and daughters and not just a conduit of money.

Single parents forced to endure non working bath faucets, exposed wiring with kids running around, holes in the walls, all unrepaired months after the incident that caused them or not repairing or cleaning black mold issues and many other concerns. It’s a terrible testament to our Canadian society that we feel justified in allowing a group of people to live in such squalor. Often blaming them for their circumstances, “if they had stayed in school, received  training in trades, worked harder at their jobs things would be better – after all look at me I pulled myself up with my own boot straps!” they say in judgement completely ignoring the reality of the working poor, migrant workers, transient lifestyles, and students.

Sigh…

The reality is many people will never achieve the typical Canadian dream of owning their own home, having two, three kids a dog and a cat with dual incomes paying down a university student debt while driving new cars. But that shouldn’t mean we need to forget them to the landlords seldom. I’m not making an appeal for rent controls because I don’t believe that will work, but rather I’m calling for control of the greed some of these landlords carry in their eyes for the almighty dollar.

The good Lord knows those of us not blessed with a trust fund, or able to get a near six figure salary, or even an inheritance will still need to live in reasonable homes. This shouldn’t be a concern or a worry in a country as rich as Canada. A recent report on Canadian inflation over a recent 20 year period suggested an increase to the cost of living has been 42.97%. And in spite of this many will still say, “there are no obstacles for anyone to advance their socio-economic standing in this country and family fortunes rise and fall according to career choices and work ethics of the income earners of the family”.

That’s really a discussion for another column… After every individual is afforded the chance for reasonable and decent housing without fear that their landlord might come and jack up the rent suddenly, evict them to transform the units into condos or claim they need to increase the rent to stay competitive with the market. I know many rental organizations maintain their own mandates and visions for their units and customers but I just wish we could ask some of these individual landlords if they have the ethics of a landlord and to please treat their renters as humans.

– Bill Stevenson, Bill’s Right On Blog!