Apr 17, 2008 - 02:16 PM

By Jillian Follert

OSHAWA -- With just six weeks until Oshawa's rental housing bylaw takes effect, landlords say City and fire officials are passing the buck when it comes to answering questions about the new rules.

As of May 30, landlords who want to rent out houses near Durham College and UOIT will have to obtain a licence from the City. To get one, they will have to meet a list of requirements.

The problem is, some landlords are still unclear on what those requirements are.

"If the City is going to impose this bylaw on us, they should at least answer people's questions so we can co-operate," said Paul Vrana on behalf of Homeowners of North Oshawa, a group of nearly 100 landlords who rent out homes near Durham College/UOIT.

The biggest source of confusion is the Ontario Fire Code.

Under Oshawa's City bylaw, the student rental homes are not considered commercial lodging houses.

But the fire code has its own definitions and depending on how one interprets the wording and the way the student houses are set up, some could be treated as lodging houses.

Landlords want the City to indicate how it will be interpreting the code, so they can start working on any needed upgrades to their properties. The fire code requires extra safety measures for lodging houses, like egress windows and fire doors.

"We just want to know one way or the other," Mr. Vrana said, adding he has been trying for weeks to get straight answers from officials. "We don't want someone spending $10,000 to fix their house, then find out it wasn't required. Then what recourse would they have?"

A reporter ad problems too. Questions put to fire officials were referred to the City's lawyer, who simply e-mailed an excerpt of the Fire Code and said any further questions should go to the Ontario Fire Marshal's office.

But Krystyna Paterson, manager of fire safety standards for the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal, said local officials are ultimately responsible for interpreting and enforcing the code.

"We are here to answer questions when we can but we don't see the premises and we don't make the call on how the code will be interpreted and enforced," she said. "Landlords also have to read the code and try to make some of their own judgements. They're the ones who know their property and the people they're renting to."

In the end, City manager Bob Duignan and Fire Chief Steve Meringer jumped in to clear things up.

They said the City is trying to avoid making sweeping statements about how the Fire Code will be applied because each house is unique, with its own set of circumstances. Landlords will be given detailed instructions on what needs to be done to their property when they receive a pre-licensing inspection.

Chief Meringer said determining whether a property should be treated as a lodging house under the fire code depends on a lot of factors, including physical characteristics of the house and living arrangements.

"If you live as one household unit, you're exempt from that part of the code," the chief explained. "Having four unrelated people living together isn't a fire hazard. But if four people are living separately in the same home, they might be cooking on their own and doing other things on their own and that could be a hazard."

Fire officials will use leases and other documents provided as part of the licensing process, to understand living arrangements in each property they inspect.