Rules governing off-campus student housing and rooming houses across the province should be examined and considered for Ottawa, according to the councillor representing the Algonquin College area.

One system that should be looked at is rental licensing, College Ward Coun. Rick Chiarelli said Thursday.

In other Ontario municipalities, licensing requires that some properties pass an inspection and that landlords create plans for maintenance, including garbage pickup.

Chiarelli said he’s looking for ways for Ottawa enforcement officers to access and take action against absentee landlords and illegal rooming houses near campuses, where homes have been renovated to create more than the three or four rental r0oms that the city allows per house. Parking, noise and maintenance issues often follow, he said.

“Residents have invested in their homes and neighbourhoods and nobody should be allowed to break the law and destroy the character of the neighbourhood,” Chiarelli said in a statement, adding that he doesn’t want the area near the college to “become another Sandy Hill,” with high numbers of bylaw and property standards complaints.

This year the city closed loopholes in conversion regulations so renovations to existing residences are scrutinized the same way new developments are.

But that isn’t enough for Chiarelli. He put forward a notice of motion to Thursday’s community and protective services committee meeting, saying next month he’ll request committee members vote to ask staff to solicit information from other municipalities. He wants the issue brought up at the next Urban Municipal Law Enforcement Network meeting.

In his motion, Chiarelli noted licensing has been upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada. The court dismissed an appeal of licensing rules applied to the area surrounding the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa campus.

Other municipalities, including Waterloo, Ont., require licensing of low-rise homes throughout the municipality. Critics there have called the system a cash grab, since landlords must pay to be licensed.

cmills@ottawacitizen.com

twitter.com/CarysMills