Raise the Hammer

• the need is there for multi-unit properties and conscientious landlords to create smaller units for progressive change.

I agree with both @seancb,@jonathon and @Ryan B. I also look at my street and see two and three unit homes, in very poor shape. Rent is really low which I don't have a problem with, but then you have those struggling to survive, living in a house that is struggling to stand on it's own footings. Just because they are lower income, doesn't mean they should be subjected to living in a dump.

I have no problem with what this writer nad fellow ward resident discusses above and I embrace all ideas put forth in the article and the comments, but if you do not plan on rolling any of what you are making off the property back into the house, get out of the renting business. We don't want you in our neighborhoods.

I lived in a beautiful old home on St. Clair Ave and once it was sold to a woman in Mississauga who was not handy and knew little about rental properties, I only met her once in the remaining year I lived there. The toilet kept backing up, the yard looked like a jungle and I wasn't buying a lawnmower for a place I was renting, and many other things made it for a frustrating year of existance there. The weekend I moved, I actualy borrowed my parents lawnmower and cleaned up the yard and had a big barbecue. I finally got to enjoy the yard. If I knew I was gonig to be moving from there into my own house, I probably would have bought my own lanwmower but instead the exterior of the house becamse an eye-sore for what was a beautiful, friendly neighborhood ruined by unkept rental properties closer to King and Main.

This woman obviously was told the rental property business was a good investment in Hamilton because house prices were so low. Can we not have a course or something that potential multi-unit owners have to take to show they are certified and know the laws surrounding rental properties? An association that they need to belong to?

These types of rental units ruin a street. Sure, low rent can attract some questionable tennants, but if the house is kept in really nice condition and owners must either be local, or managed by a local multi-unit management group, than the bad tennants can be kept an eye on.

What if the front of the house has to have a sign with the number for the owner / management group so neighbors can complain about these tennants/condition of property, etc? It would show that these owners want to be a positive, contributing member of their communities. Nothing wrong with wanting to make money, but remember that there are 5 families next to and directly across from your 'business', that are immediately affected by what goes on at your 'money-making' venture. I actually wouldn't mind a sign that states that this house is a 5 unit home, or something to that affect. Shouldn't home-owners know or potential home-owners, what makes up these neighborhoods?

Then of course you have the developer who buys a property to build a new house and thinks he is doing such a service to your neighborhood (said so himself), by taking over a decrepid property and building a new home, only to have it unsafe during the build, always covered in garbage, and eventually shut down for not following building codes, and has been boarded up for over a year now.

A whole different story I know, but bottom line home/business/land owner accountability is very lacking in this city. I love Hamilton and my Ward specifically, but this article really hits on something we seriously need to address in our city.

Comment edited by lawrence on 2011-04-26 12:33:57