Prince George City Councillor encourages use of nuisance bylaw to address problem properties

Yesterday’s visit by frontline RCMP members along with the North District Emergency Response Team and RCMP Police Dog Services resulted in the execution of a search warrant.

Police say multiple tenants at the home over a short period of time has been a challenge when dealing with properties like these.

“Houses like that tend to change tenants quickly. Just in December the people who were on the lease changed twice,” says Cst. Jennifer Cooper.

“So, just because we start an investigation on someone doesn’t mean they’re there by the time that we have enough information to go forward.”

As for the owner of the property?

“From what we can gather, the owner has been making steps to try and improve the residence,” says Cooper. “Possible further work with the city to see what they can do and with the Residential Tenancy Board would be avenues to look down.”

Prince George City Councillor Brian Skakun would welcome that and says an unused city bylaw, called the Nuisance Abatement bylaw, would help.

“It was created for situations like this where there’s repeat offenders, where they can go after the homeowner, the business owner, the people that are the occupants of the house,” he says.

That cost is broken down by job title with the city or the RCMP. For example, offenders would pay an hourly rate of $85 if the manager of bylaw services was involved in the abatement of a call, or up to $111 an hour if the superintendent of the RCMP was involved.

“If you ask me, if you want a deterrent for some of these landlords and others to clean up their properties, then you hit em’ where it hurts,” says Skakun.

Skakun says he plans to recommend the use of the bylaw when he meets with city officials during budget talks next week.

by Greg Fry

Prince George City Councillor encourages use of nuisance bylaw to address problem properties

What's Trending