Second suites can pay, or cost
$46K fine to Calgary landlord another reminder to local owners to adhere to safety codes
A huge fine levelled on a secondary suite owner in Calgary should convince local landlords in Medicine Hat to get in line with the fire safety code, local fire department officials said Thursday.
This week a provincial court judge levied $46,000 in penalties on a single homeowner who rented his basement while not providing window access to bedrooms, proper smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, or adequate separation from a furnace room.
The maximum fines in such cases run as high as $100,000, which should be enough to sway landlords toward improving older suites, according to Carter Gramlich, the local department’s fire prevention officer.
He said there have been no recent prosecutions locally for violating the fire safety code for second suites, but non-compliance endangers not only lives but also financial investments.
“People are doing this, having secondary suites, to earn income and fines like that would really derail things,” said.
Last year the Medicine Hat Fire Service launched its secondary suite registry and offered free inspections to certify that suites were in compliance with decade old requirements.
Administrators said that despite the standards being in place for years, few of the estimated hundreds of basement suites in Medicine Hat had been inspected.
They offered free inspections and hoped the registry — a way to advertise in-compliance accommodations to renters — would be a good incentive.
“If an owner calls us up, we give them time and do an evaluation to make sure it gets up to code,” said Gramlich.
“If we have to respond to a fire, it’s a different story.”
To date 82 suites have been inspected and are listed on the registry, which can be accessed on the city’s website.
Another 30 or so are in the process of inspection, upgrades or are awaiting final certification.
Originally, it was felt that some landlords may have been operating on the assumption that older or existing suites were grandfathered and exempt from new standards.
They are not. The changes allowed for a grace period to improve suites, add hardwired smoke alarms and meet access and egress requirements, among other standards.