Legal Corner Do you have a vacant and derelict buildings by-law? Does it allow you to seize ownership of the land if repair orders aren’t followed ? Legislative authority is given to local governments to undertake repairs and demolition of certain dangerous property and buildings without a specific by-law. Outside Winnipeg the authority to inspect and demolish buildings is found beginning at section 239 of The Municipal Act. A local government may require an owner to eliminate any dangers to public safety or remove or demolish structures and level the site if, in the opinion of its designated officer, the structure is danger- ous to public safety or property, or is in an unsightly condition or is detrimental to the surrounding area. Council is the review body if a person disagrees with the actions taken by the designated officer and sub- sequently the local government may take whatever actions or measures it considers necessary to eliminate the condition or the danger on the property including building removal. Costs of any action or measures taken are an amount owed by the person who was required to do something by the order and can be added to the taxes. Process must be followed very carefully or the local government may be found to have acted beyond its jurisdiction, and liability will arise. For example, if it’s found that proper notice is not given to the owner before the designated officer steps foot on the property to inspect it, any report given from that inspection cannot be used in a decision by council to demol- ish a building. The local government must not ignore the obligation of providing the owner with reasonable notice before entering the land to conduct its inspec- tion. The Municipal Act states: “…a Designated Officer of the Muni- cipality may, after giving reasonable notice to the owner or occupier of land or the building or other structure to be entered to carry out the inspec- tion, remedy, enforcement or action, 54 Municipal Leader | Summer 2012 enter the land or structure at any reasonable time and carry out the inspection, enforcement or action authorized or required…” If this isn’t followed, it will be trespass. The Court of Queen’s Bench has said in one Manitoba case: “The right of individual land owners to be informed of munici- pal officials entering on their land is not a trivial right. It goes to the heart of ownership. Breaching that right can not be described as trivial. At the time of the inspection …the municipality had not complied with section 239(1) [of The Municipal Act] by giving notice and therefore lacked the legal jurisdiction to enter onto the Plaintiff ’s property. The act of entering on the land by the inspector constituted an unlawful trespass.” Robert L. Tyler, Aikins, MacAulay & Thorvaldson LLP If a building is demolished by a local government without a proper report, taken after a properly constituted inspec- tion report, the demolition activity will be found to be unlawful. For property within Winnipeg, the City’s Charter Act gives it similar authority to engage in a process through inspec- tion, notice and order to have buildings removed or demolished. Process must be carefully followed. Costs are awarded against the person and charged against the property. Taking it a step further, a derelict building by-law may be enacted giving authority to a local government to acquire title to property owned by someone who is in breach of the obligation to maintain it in accordance with the by-law. Both Brandon and Winnipeg have passed such by-laws to permit seizure to such land. These by-laws permit land seizure without having to Click here to to return to to Click here return Table of of Contents Table Contents