OCH flags concerns with tenants growing pot
Ottawa Community Housing is flagging potential problems if tenants can start legally growing cannabis this coming fall.
The agency says it wouldn’t allow tenants to alter the electricity or plumbing infrastructure in their units as part of their mini grow ops, vowing to hold renters responsible for any damage to units caused by cultivating cannabis.
However, an OCH spokesperson said the agency is still waiting for the Ontario government to confirm regulations before deciding if tenants can grow pot plants in their units when the new federal cannabis law comes into force.
There’s still time to sort it out. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Wednesday that the cannabis law will take effect on Oct. 17.
The OCH board of directors is scheduled to get an update on the agency’s cannabis “readiness strategy” during a meeting on Thursday. The agency has been working on a plan since last fall.
Smoking cannabis would be covered under the agency’s existing no-smoking policy, which bans smoking in units whose leases started in 2014. Tenants who moved into their units before 2014 have been allowed to smoke in their rented homes.
Under the federal cannabis legislation, each residence can have up to four cannabis plants.
To this point, the outgoing provincial Liberal government hasn’t indicated any further restrictions to the growing provisions in the federal legislation, which was awaiting royal assent.
Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives will control the Ontario government starting June 29 and they could make changes to the cannabis regulations under provincial purview.
The City of Ottawa, which has a cannabis team studying the impact of the new law, is also waiting to see if the incoming PC provincial government will add regulations.
The city is OCH’s sole shareholder.
OCH doesn’t believe growing four cannabis plants will have a greater impact on its assets than growing, for example, tomato plants. However, if tenants fire up power-sucking light and heating systems, the housing agency could swallow the costs.
The Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations wanted the federal Liberals to ban cannabis growing in all rentals and multi-unit residential buildings, worried about electrical safety issues, mould damage, insurance problems and increased liability for landlords. The federal government didn’t include the measures in the final legislation.
John Dickie, an Ottawa lawyer and president of the apartment federation, said landlords could include language in leases that would restrict growing marijuana, but the clause could be open to a challenge at Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board.
While landlords could prohibit tenants from using grow lamps or compel them to make sure humidity levels aren’t high, it’s less clear how the Landlord and Tenant Board would address a ban on growing cannabis in a rental unit, Dickie said.