A member of city council wants to see what options are available to develop a city-wide residential rental licensing bylaw that doesn't punish good landlords but cracks down on the bad ones.
The results of a two-year residential rental licensing pilot project will go before city council Monday with several recommendations for moving forward, including repealing the by-law or suspending it and having a report created with alternate by-law models, the step recommended by administration.
Ward 2 Councillor Fabio Costante says he thinks there are different ways to have a city-wide program that doesn't have to be a "one-size-fits-all."
"Upon first inspection, if a landlord is compliant, why do we have to inspect them every year, for example? Why not rate landlords accordingly and then inspect accordingly so we're narrowing in on the bad actors and those of higher risk? I think if we have a system that's multi-tiered, for example, you don't need a compliment that's described in the report itself," he says.
The residential rental licensing program was launched in wards 1 and 2 in February 2023 as a pilot study aimed at improving safety in rental housing units and enhancing the enforcement of property standards through licensing and yearly inspections.
The program was even the subject of a legal battle involving Windsor Housing Providers Inc., a group representing hundreds of area landlords, who sought to halt the process but ultimately lost to the city in February 2025.
The report from administration going to Monday's meeting indicates staffing for a city-wide roll-out of the piloted framework is estimated to require an additional 34 new regular full-time positions at a cost of $4,374,015.
Based on 7,000 applications per year, in order to fully recover the staff necessary to carry out this program, the initial license fee would need to be a minimum of $625 annually, equalling an increase of $159, or 34 per cent as compared to the license fee approved under the pilot program.
Costante says this program was always intended to be self-sufficient and wouldn't affect the tax base, as it's funded through the fees.
"I've got a lot of questions with the model they put forward. I don't agree with it necessarily; I think it's a bit rigid, and I think there are better ways to do this that wouldn't require a $4 million operating cost and staff complement that they're recommending," he says.
Costante says he would like to see an incentive model that doesn't involve yearly inspections for everyone, which he thinks would reduce the program's cost and staffing needs.
"If you're playing by the rules, you're ensuring the units that you're renting out are safe and up to code, and then we're going to reward you. Alternatively, if you're not playing by the rules and meeting provincial legislation, then we're going to hold you accountable," he says.
The city's licensing department received 782 residential rental licensing applications over the study period.
Building and fire officers successfully accessed 660 dwelling units; 41 applicants declined to arrange inspections when contacted due to litigation, and the remainder did not respond to contact requests.
About a third of properties inspected were compliant on first inspection or by the end of the same day.
Major defects related to expired, defective, or absent smoke alarms or carbon monoxide alarms were found most frequently, followed by minor building condition defects.
Council meets at 10 a.m. on Monday, April 28 at Windsor City Hall.