Higher taxes for ‘slum landlord’ properties could cut down on repeat offenders in Brampton, councillor says

Creating sub-classes with higher property taxes for “repeat, chronic offenders” under the city’s landlord registration program could curb the number of bad actors in Brampton’s rental market, one councillor says.

The idea comes from Coun. Rowena Santos, and was inspired by the City of Edmonton’s Problem Property Initiative – a program addressing problematic occupied and unoccupied properties in that city which lead to frequent complaints or safety concerns.

Alberta’s tax laws are different from Ontario’s, and the city implemented a derelict residential subclass in 2024 which allows the city to charge three-times the property tax rate to owners that are assessed as derelict.

Costs for remedial action work completed by the city are also charged to the tax roll of the property owner.

Santos says she learned more about Edmonton’s program during the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Annual Conference and Trade Show earlier this month, and the city is now calling on the province to introduce a “sub-class” for problem properties, similar to rules in Alberta.

READ MORE: Parking fines up over 170% under rental licensing program in Brampton

Brampton uses graduated fines with increasing penalties “to encourage early corrective action and reduce non-compliance,” and found 58 per cent of RRL matters are resolved at the “Intermediate Penalty” level following a first offence. Issues with additional rental units (ARUs) are also mostly dealt with at the intermediate stage (51 per cent).

Some 5 per cent of RRL matters escalated to the highest penalty, and landlords who remain in non-compliance with the RRL program face escalation through the Provincial Offences Court and penalties up to $100,000.

Santos said RRL enforcement has managed to identify “the worst of the worst,” but says some “repeat, chronic offenders” would rather pay fines and fix ongoing issues. Hitting problem landlords on their property tax bill would be a way of encouraging compliance, she says.

“We need to make it that the cost of doing business as a slum landlord no longer is a benefit to them,” Santos said during a committee of Brampton City Council meeting last week.

Brampton Bylaw Services has handed out penalty notices with fines of at least $695,550 under the RRL program, and the report shows there have been 620 fire safety inspection orders issued “where deficiencies were identified” since January 2024.

Starting next week, Brampton Bylaw Enforcement officers will be rotating through all ten wards in the city under a plan designed to crackdown on ongoing resident concerns related to parking enforcement, property standards and other issues.

The patrols will help bylaw enforcement address neighbourhood challenges sooner and improve responsiveness to resident concerns in each of Brampton’s wards and areas “identified as having the highest number of service requests” and “repeat concerns and compliance failures,” the city says.