An important property rights case

There is an important property rights case being argued in an Alberta court next month that I think we should all pay attention to. If the government wins the case, you may have to put a chair against your door when you take a shower to make sure an agent of the state doesn’t enter your property unannounced.

This peculiar case involves, landlords Robert Li vs Lily Wang.
They had a problem with a health inspector involving one of their properties. It got resolved. But it appears the health inspector used this incident as a pretext to enter all 10 of their other properties, fishing for violations.

Now, if a landlord is creating a hazardous condition for their tenants, I say throw the book at them. When you sign an agreement with someone to inhabit and use your property, you are obligated to follow the law and ensure their living space is safe. If there is a credible reason to suspect a property is unsafe, by all means, get a warrant and inspect it. If a tenant complains about the state of a property, they should be able to call an inspector directly and have them come in to check it out.

But you can’t have health inspectors declaring they are above the law and that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms doesn’t apply to them.

Read more

Interesting
Thanks Robert

Danielle Smith: AHS inspectors may need to be reined in - Calgary | Globalnews.ca

Similar powers exist in the new Ontario home inspector legislation.

Not interesting…it’s outrageous!

Cheers