A city councillor is pleased to see the city was successful in seeking court costs against the group of landlords who tried to quash the Residential Rental License by-law.
Ward 2 councillor Fabio Costante says he was happy to see Justice Kelly Gorman rule that the court costs in the amount of $30,000 be paid to the City of Windsor by the Windsor Housing Providers Inc.
In April 2023, the Windsor Housing Providers filed an application in superior court to temporarily halt the implementation of the RRL by-law. At the end of March 2024, a judge ruled in favour of the city for the program.
Costante says the $30,000 will cover the costs for the original court case, and that the City will have to apply for the costs of the appeal to be covered once more.
He says taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill for this claim, which was unsuccessful.
"The city had to defend these claims, there was resources, time spent on defending these claims, and the city was successful against all claims made against it. And so I think there's a public interest to ensure that those legal costs are covered. I think it's completely unfair that taxpayers pay for the costs to defend a claim that was entirely unsuccessful."
Costante says he was seeking for the costs to be covered once he found out the judge ruled in favour of the city.
"The fact that the City was successful in defending the claims from the landlords is a form of validation that we're on the right track, that the by-law is a well-written, good by-law. It mirrors other by-laws across the province where municipalities have implemented the Residential Rental License."
Costante says he wants to know if the city will seek to have the costs covered, if possible, following the appeal.
"I will ask to what extent will the city be seeking what is called 'security for costs' for the upcoming appeal. In other words, what can we do to ensure that if the city is again successful on appeal, will we be successful in seeking further costs, because there's going to be further costs deployed to defend the appeal."
City council will receive a report during their council meeting on Monday morning explaining the successful application to have the court costs covered.
Costante says he believes that the appeal is still moving forward at this time.
Under the city's two-year pilot program, property owners is wards 1 and 2 would be required to complete a licence application form, confirm ownership and show proper insurance, provide a local contact for the unit, and show that the unit meets legislated requirements, including building code, fire code, and electrical safety standards.