Some tenants are raising concerns about living conditions in an apartment building in Dartmouth's north end. They say repairs take too long, if they’re done at all.
Lisa Fairn says it has taken months to repair cracks in the wall in her unit and now she is worried about mold.
“They said there was no water damage, but I knew there was because I could smell mold from that and they scraped it, they finished it off, and it’s not even painted the same colour,” says Fairn. “It’s not being done proper.”
Kathleen Latter says she has had major issues with her plumbing; toilet water and waste backed up and overflowed onto her carpet.
“I just said we need this done immediately because we can’t live like this,” says Latter. “It’s disgusting. It’s not safe for me or my husband or my son. My husband is asthmatic.”
She says her husband cleaned the mess as best he could, but they want the carpet to be replaced.
“I’ve asked a number of times to get this done and they said no and they didn’t give me a reason why,” says Latter.
The senior property manager says he isn’t aware of any outstanding issues with the building. He says the roof was leaking but was recently replaced. He also says action is taken almost immediately when issues are reported, depending on how serious they are.
But the tenants disagree and Nova Scotia ACORN, an anti-poverty organization, is now involved.
Member Shay Enxuga says too many tenants are living in poor conditions and the organization is pushing for landlord licensing, rather than the complaint-based system currently in place.
“We’re asking for a proactive inspection system,” says Enxuga. “We want landlords to be inspected once every year or once every three years just to make sure they’re meeting basic minimum standards.”
Matt Covey, the city’s building standards manager, says that’s one of the options being considered as the city looks to modernize its bylaws that cover minimum standards for living conditions.
“To just blanket everybody with the rules is probably the worst-case scenario. We’re looking at more target strategies that are going to address the core issue, which is these places of poor living conditions,” says Covey.
Covey says he is looking at what is being done in other jurisdictions and will report back to council early next year.
He also says tenants in the Halifax area can call 311 to report any concerns. Bylaw staff will investigate all complaints and issue an order to the landlord or property owner if necessary.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Jacqueline Foster
