Many tenants are afraid to speak up about issues with their apartments.
A new report, released Wednesday, from Dalhousie Legal Aid says more than 40 per cent of renters did not bring up issues with their landlord.
Community legal worker Hannah Main says the top two reasons tenants did not mention problems were they either thought nothing could be done, or they were afraid to damage the relationship with their landlord.
“That leaves tenants in a position where they may not be able to necessarily access or assert their rights, because maybe if they do assert their rights through the Residential Tenancies program, the landlord, if [the tenant is on] a fixed term lease, could just end that lease at the end of it, despite not necessarily having a cause,” says Main.
The survey collected info from nearly 1,300 tenants across the province.
Main says they wanted to collected data after hearing similar issues anecdotally at their office.
They are also calling on the province to change housing legislation to ensure tenants feel they are able to assert their rights to housing in proper condition.
