The City of Windsor wants to clarify that just because there's a court action against its rental licensing regime doesn't mean the by-law isn't in effect.
Deputy Licensing Commissioner and Acting Senior Manager of Policy, Gaming, Licensing and By-law Enforcement Craig Robertson is pushing back against misinformation about the residential rental licensing pilot study in Wards 1 and 2.
"Individuals thought that the by-law was not enforceable and that it was no longer in effect until the injunction hearing," he said. "The by-law does exist. It has been enacted."
The pilot program requires landlords in those wards with four or fewer rental units to register each apartment with the city. The deadline was May 31.
However, a group of landlords are fighting the by-law in court, and a judge has asked the city not to enforce it until the hearing in November.
Robertson said that isn't hard because the city never enforces a new by-law until the public has a chance to learn more about it.
"For example, we just started licensing donation bins," he offered. "There's always that time to make the public aware, to try and do as much reasonable education and outreach as we can before we step up any type of enforcement."
Robertson said the intention was never to issue tickets on June 1.
The by-law is intended to make sure rental units don't violate fire, building, and noise by-laws. Landlords in violation of those by-laws can still be fined.
The city has also updated its webpage to answer questions about the new pilot program, and staff are monitoring emails to ensure landlords get the correct information.
Robertson said the city has no accurate estimate of how many units exist in Wards 1 and 2, although he said it is safe to suggest there are thousands.
So far, 650 landlords have registered their units.