Vision Vancouver released another piece of its election platform on Saturday, pledging to create an online registry to track property violations in Vancouver apartments and post landlords' reputations.
"The city already has this information based on inspecting buildings and enforcing the building codes," mayor Gregor Robertson told CTV News. "This is basically packaging that up so that renters can easily access it."
The website is supposed to make it easier for renters to decide where to move. But because of low vacancy rates in Vancouver renters who don't like a landlord can't always find somewhere else to live.
"We have a shortage of rental housing and over half the city does rent, so there is a challenge getting the right kind of housing. But having more tools to do that is going to be useful," Robertson said.
The website wouldn't apply to single-room occupancy hotels and rooming houses, such as the one on Pandora St. where three men died in an electrical fire in December 2010. City inspectors had multiple complaints about the house and tried to get the landlord to fix her property.
The proposed online database is modeled after one launched in New York City.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Nafeesa Karim
