Pubdate: Sun, 26 Feb 2012
Source: North Shore News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 North Shore News
Contact:  http://www.nsnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/311

UNWARRANTED

WHEN the City of North Vancouver first enacted its bylaw requiring
landlords to pay for costs of dismantling grow-ops on their properties,
it waded into an area of extra-judicial punishment increasingly
popular with authorities.

The reasons are obvious: The measures penalize - and therefore
hopefully deter - illegal activities without requiring the standards
of criminal court; tenants can disappear much more easily than
property owners.

To an extent, such measures make sense. There are liabilities that go
along with running a rental business. And municipalities are obliged
to protect the health and safety of their residents - including future
tenants.

There are, however, some pesky civil liberties to be considered.
Landlords aren't held responsible for any other criminal activity
their tenants may get up to; nor are they sent a bill for them
afterwards. Laws also provide tenants with privacy rights including
reasonable notice when a landlord wants to come calling.

Most honest owners who suspect something is up will go to the police
rather than risk substantial damage to their property. It's then up to
police to get a search warrant.

Sure, that system can be slow, but it also establishes important
checks and balances. Renters and owners alike expect to be free from
unreasonable snooping - unless there's a good reason for it, backed up
by a judge.

Asking landlords to be the police - beyond what's expected of any
other reasonable citizen - isn't fair. The city is right to revisit
its regulations.

This bylaw should be repealed.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt