This week, a vicious heatwave has been terrorizing Ontario and Quebec. Temperatures have been into the early 30s with no sign of stopping until this week is over. In the winter, extreme cold temperatures are much more manageable because people can take comfort in their own homes which are required to have heating, not to mention the infrastructure can handle the cold. The same cannot be said for the heat, be it the infrastructure or the ability to be comfortable in your own home.
The Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) makes that possible as heat is a vital service, meaning that it is a landlord’s responsibility to make sure that their tenants have working heating. On the list of vital services, you’ll find that air conditioning is not considered to be one as it is not on the list.
This is further supported by the Waterloo Region Community Legal Services who affirm that landlords are not responsible for providing air conditioning because of its ineligibility as a vital service.
However, if a landlord does provide air conditioning, it is their responsibility to make sure it is maintained like any other service according to the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights.
Students living in off-campus residences right now where air conditioning is not provided have been struggling with the heat. Many have come out to complain on Reddit and demand action be done to make their living arrangements more comfortable. r/Smooth_Trifle_1458 wrote, “There is a heat warning, we aren’t able to study or sleep, our academics and careers are impacted, not just money.”
Some have even started a petition to demand that the Waterloo City Council to make air-conditioning a requirement, especially when temperatures indoor reach certain extremes.
There is significant danger for residents when temperatures get too cold, leaving them at risk for freezing to death in the comfort of their own homes. Why can’t the same be said for the risk of heat exhaustion or heatstroke? Should the laws not be adjusted for the rise in global temperature? Why do tenants only get to have one and not the other? Aren’t both equally as important?
