Last Updated on October 14, 2022 by YGK News Staff
Landlords are sounding off against proposed changes to Kingston’s nuisance party bylaws, saying the changes would punish them for something over which they have no control.
At last Tuesday’s council meeting where discussion on the topic spilled over into a Wednesday night continuation, Kingston City Council heard feedback from multiple delegates who say landlords eating the cost of nuisance party violations would be an unfair solution.
Alex Legnini, who rents to students, said the changes would simply pass the buck onto a group that has as much incentive as anybody to get rid of these parties but have no control over them.
“Why is this type of policy even being proposed? To punish a group that has no authority over the actions proposed,” Legnini said.
He continued that Queen’s itself has a responsibility to address the cultural issues among their students, comparing the situation to different cultural issues that RMC has made efforts to address.
Queen’s University, for its part, contributed $350,000 to help cover increased policing costs and recently announced a task force to help tackle the street parties.
Legnini added that any clause in a lease banning parties is likely to void under the Residential Tenancy Act, and that eviction warnings often don’t act as a deterrent for students who don’t require the accommodations long term.
With St. Patrick’s Day less than a month away, the city is looking to find some kind of solution for the anticipated increased police presence that will mitigate costs passed to taxpayers.
Under the current Nuisance Party Bylaw, property owners are given a warning if a nuisance party is hosted at a house they own, and levied a fine if another takes place within two years.
The proposed change would remove the warning system, citing that information has been made available over the past four years on how landlords can mitigate these gatherings.
Robert Melo, President of the Kingston Rental Properties Association, denies that this information has been given to landlords.
He says landlords want to work with the city and all “influential parties” to find a solution to the problem, but that landlords themselves have no power.
Melo thinks a working group of influential parties and could come together to create a new vision for the city and student parties.
“Get these groups together and then say ‘look, how can we turn this around into something that everyone is going to feel great about?'” Melo said.
“Instead of just tackling all the negative stuff, just create what it actually can be.”
Melo added that he understands students’ desire to attend these parties and that they should be able to do so, but in a more sanctioned and better-planned capacity.
“It’s working together that we can crush these things,” Melo said.
“This could be a turning point, it was bound to get worse when COVID came in and everyone’s just bottled up.”
Last Wednesday, Councillor Wayne Hill proposed to defer a decision on the bylaw until June 21 to allow for further consultation with landlords, saying he doesn’t think the proposed changes would impact landlords the way they seem to be interpreting.
Last fall after two weekends of Queen’s Homecoming street parties, responding to nuisance parties cost Kingston Police nearly $1,000,000.
The city handed out over $500,000 in Administrative Monetary Penalties at these parties.
