St. Patrick's Day guest policy at student residences changed after outcry
Laurier student created petition after building instituted guest limit policy
Tenants living in student apartment buildings on King Street and Ezra Avenue will be allowed to have one guest this St. Patrick's Day weekend.
Centurion Property Associates Inc., which owns three buildings including The Marq on King Street, have changed their decision to only allow 35 guests in the entire building.
In an email on March 7, the company told residents they put the policy in place to reduce fire code issues and potential overcrowding of the building.
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On Friday, Greg Romundt, president of Centurion Property Associates Inc., told CBC News in an email they will now allow one guest per person.
"In a building with 205 residents, the limit set by the fire safety plan in this case is 240. This was the reason for the original limit of 35, so that we could comply with the fire code," Romundt said.
"In the event that each resident brought three guests, the number of occupants would be 820, more than three times the number deemed safe by the fire department."
Tried to get guest limit policy removed
Building staff will provide wristbands for guests and tenants of the buildings. Guests are going to have to be accompanied by the tenant and have photo ID on hand to be able to enter the building.
Romundt said they are going to hire private security for their buildings that will check for wristbands.
"This is the only way that we can reasonably control the number of people in the buildings to maintain safe conditions," he said.
However, Paris Kiani, a fourth year political science student at Wilfrid Laurier University, created a petition she hoped would remove the guest limit policy completely.
"The whole point of me starting this petition and reaching out to the media was not so I could get one guest, but I was going to try remove the policy completely because we had that right taken away from us," she told CBC News.
She said that policy was only put in place for St. Patrick's Day and believes it's illegal.
Kiani said she spoke with the City of Waterloo's bylaw office, the fire department and a lawyer, who all told her the new policy goes against Section 22 of the Residential Tenancies Act, as the buildings are not affiliated with the either university.
However, Romundt said the petition is "an unreasonable demand" as it would put people's safety at risk.
"That could result in an extremely dangerous situation, which our staff and security would not be able to safely manage," he said.
Kiani agreed with the importance of safety; however, she said a guest limit policy on St. Patrick's Day should be mentioned in the lease.
She has raised the issue with the Landlord and Tenant Board and said she plans to file a complaint.
Police won't check for wristbands
The Marq was not the only student building to put in place a guest limit. A Reddit post showed that an apartment building on 8 Hickory St., told its tenants there would be a "zero tolerance policy for guests and trespassers."
Tenants also have to wear a wristband to access the building.
Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) Chief Bryan Larkin told CBC's The Morning Edition police won't be checking wristbands at buildings during St. Patrick's Day.
"We are not aware of those policies," Larkin said. "Our focus is not to police the hallways of apartment buildings. I want to assure the public that we are not checking wristbands."
Larkin said there is the Trespass to Property Act in place for owners which authorizes police to enforce the act on a building owner's behalf.
He added they will be called along with bylaw or the fire department regarding safety if there is overcrowding or if there's a fire code code violation.