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Standards of Maintenance

Municipal Standards of Maintenance (SoM) Bylaws allow local government to force landlords to keep their rental buildings in good repair. Although not all municipalities have SoM bylaws, TRAC strongly encourages all municipalities to not only pass these bylaws but strictly enforce them.

List of Standards of Maintenance Bylaws

• Vancouver - Standards of Maintenance Bylaw
  • City of Vancouver Motion on Enforcing Standards of Maintenance Bylaw
• North Vancouver - Rental Premises Standards of Maintenance and Prevention of Nuisances Byaw
• Richmond - Rental Premises Standards of Maintenance
• Delta - Residential Standards of Maintenance Bylaw
• Victoria - Property Maintenance Bylaw
• Saanich - Minimum Poperty Maintenance Standards Bylaw
• New Westminster - Business Regulations and Licensing (Rental Units)

Articles

• “A City soft on ‘Slumlords’". Source: The Tyee online newspaper (2008)

The importance of SoM bylaws has been recognized for years and by a number of studies, including:

• “Strategies to Preserve Existing Rental Housing in Greater Vancouver”. Source: TRAC (2004)
• “Cracks in the Foundation”. Source: Pivot Legal Society (2006)

West Coast Environmental Law has produced the following publications on Pesticides

• Pesticides in your Home (English)
• Pesticides and your Health (English, Punjabi, Spanish)