LANDLORDS AND THE LAW

If you’re a homeowner, complying with the Hawkins-Gignac Act is straightforward: ensure you have a working, CSA-approved CO alarm outside sleeping areas. But what if you’re renting? Then, the law states, it’s the responsibility of the landlord and, depending on the number of units involved, deadlines to comply are different. For single-family residences and multiple-dwelling buildings with six units or fewer, the initial deadline to install CO alarms was April 15, 2015 — six months after the legislation was passed. For buildings with more than six units, the deadline passed just recently — Oct. 15, 2015 — a full year after the new law passed. “Larger landlords were given six months longer so that they would have enough time to buy and install the alarms,” explains John Gignac, who was asked to input on regulations for the Hawkins-Gignac mandatory CO alarm law. He explains that it takes time to determine the units that landlords must outfit with alarms, based on adjacency to potential carbon monoxide sources. For owners of multiple large buildings, they could face buying hundreds of alarms. “The government is saying, ‘Listen, we understand. You can go out and buy so many per month rather than try to purchase 300 at the same time,’” says Gignac. And, just as homeowners are responsible for making sure their alarms are in good working order, so too are landlords. CO alarms should be cleaned and checked regularly and, once they are between seven and 10 years old, the units should be replaced. The consequence of non-compliance? Besides putting people and their families in danger, violating the Hawkins-Gignac CO alarm law can result in a fine of $50,000 for individuals and $100,000 for corporations.