'We deserve to be comfortable in our homes,' say tenants pushing for maximum heat bylaw

As the London region enters its second day of a heat wave, some tenants say they've taken it upon themselves to cool their units since the city doesn't have a bylaw regulating maximum temperatures in apartments.

Middlesex-London Health Unit has issued an extreme heat warning from Sunday through Wednesday as Environment Canada warns temperatures could spike up to 35 degrees C before humidex.

Londoner Laura Canut had to buy and install her own air conditioner because her landlord doesn't provide one, but believes there should be more regulations in place, she said.

"It was terrible because I live at a street level, so if I have my windows open, it gets really dusty and loud, but if I have them closed then it's too hot. It was pretty frustrating," said Canut, who has lived at her rental for six years.

"My landlord wanted to charge me extra just to put an AC unit that my sister bought for me because they didn't provide anything. It was just fend for yourself," she said.

London's vital services bylaw states that between September 15 and June 15, landlords "shall provide a continuous supply of heat to a rented residential unit so that a minimum temperature of 20 degrees Celsius will be maintained" between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. A minimum temperature of 18 C has to be in place the rest of the time.

The city's bylaw doesn't mention maximum temperatures required for air conditioning, leaving it to the discretion of landlords. A heat event between those days can be a problem for tenants who aren't allowed to control temperatures in their homes.

In September 2024, a council committee voted to direct staff to develop a bylaw that would mandate the temperatures in rental units be kept below 26 C.

"We have a really old central air unit and it's working fine now, however we weren't allowed to turn it on until June 15 because of our landlord's request," said Heather Mackay and Grant Mercer, who pay $2,100 per month for a three-bedroom house in Old East Village.

"I'm very heat intolerant. I have medical issues so I would've probably had to go to urgent care, and we have a young daughter as well who has asthma."

The couple said a heat event a few weeks ago in May made it so hot they turned on their air conditioning anyway after checking with the city.

Mercer wants a similar bylaw that mandates cooling in buildings, which he said, is important now more than ever given how often extreme temperatures are intensifying.

"The way the world is right now with climate change, it's just getting hotter so you need that to make people be able to survive," he said. "It may be [a landlord's] house they own but it's our home, and we deserve to be comfortable in our home."

Londoner Karen MacLennan has to store her air conditioner elsewhere during winter due to restrictions at her apartment, adding extra costs to her plate.

"It's pretty hot and you have to have it," she said. "They don't like it being in the window so [I] have to take it out, and I have to hire a company to store it for me and bring it back in the spring."

Extreme heat can be an even bigger challenge for tenants living in older apartments that use boiler systems for climate control, said Meagen Ciuofo, co-executive director of Lifespin, which supports low-income renters.

"It's hard for landlords to accommodate those temperature fluctuations that we see nowadays, it doesn't just gradually change, we have really warm days followed by really cool days."

Ciuofo said boiler systems are hard and very expensive to change, and an overhaul could result in higher rents for low-income tenants.

A list of cooling centres can be found on the city's website.