Steinbach City Council · Jan 2022 – Sept 2026 · Topic: Property standards & rental upkeep
Property standards: keeping rentals and yards in shape
What rules does Steinbach have to keep homes, yards and rental buildings in decent condition, including garbage at apartment sites and properties whose owners live elsewhere? How does the city enforce those rules, and has council looked at stronger tools such as rental licensing? How do Steinbach's rules and enforcement compare with other Manitoba and Canadian cities?
Bottom line
- The yard-and-junk rule dates from 2003 and hasn't changed. By-law 1663 lets the city post a 21-day notice, then clean up and add the bill to the owner's taxes. It has no ticket, and it doesn't cover the condition of roofs, siding or windows. Brandon, Winkler and Portage la Prairie regulate all three.
- Rental fire safety is the strong point. By-law 2157 (2021) requires smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms and escape windows in every home, with fines of $1,000 a day. In August 2024 staff said only “several dozen” of possibly several hundred suites had confirmed they comply, and council backed a proactive crackdown. No results have been reported to council since.
- Enforcement is small and mostly complaint-driven. The city had one community services officer through 2025 and two by 2026, and they enforce many other by-laws too. Council has adopted no enforcement policy or response targets. Winkler adopted one in 2025, and Winnipeg promises inspections within 10 days.
- Residents raised upkeep at seven development hearings. They spoke about run-down rentals, long grass, overflowing dumpsters and blowing garbage. Council decided those files on size and fit. Its stated hope is that redevelopment will replace neglected rentals.
- Rental licensing has never come to council. We found no Manitoba peer that licenses long-term rentals. Waterloo, Oshawa and Toronto do, and charge landlords fees for it.
Apartment density, height and parking are covered in Housing and development. Encampments and the community safety officers' work with unhoused people are covered in Homelessness in Steinbach.
Part 1 · The council record
The rules on the books
Steinbach has no single property standards by-law. Upkeep is covered by several older by-laws and the new zoning by-law:
| By-law | What it covers | How it is enforced |
|---|---|---|
| Junk, Weeds & Nuisance, No. 1663 (June 2003) | Junk and rubbish on any “land, residence, apartment building, store” or other premises; grass or weeds over 6 inches (12 inches on vacant land); junk inside a home that is a health or safety hazard; odours, vermin and stagnant water; any property kept in violation of other city by-laws. | A notice is posted on the property and mailed to the owner, with 21 days to comply and a right to appeal to council. After that the city may do the work itself and add the cost to the property taxes, or go to court. The by-law sets no fine, and it is not on the city's penalty-notice schedule. |
| Dwelling Safety Standards, No. 2157 (Jan 2021) | Every dwelling unit, including basement suites: smoke alarms (tested yearly and for each new tenant), carbon monoxide alarms, and escape windows or exits. | Inspection on complaint or request, then an order with at least 7 days to comply. A fine of $1,000, with each day a separate offence, collectable with taxes. Penalty notice $1,000 ($500 if paid early). |
| Derelict Vehicles, No. 1641 (2003) | Storing derelict vehicles on private property. | Penalty notice $100 ($50 if paid early). |
| Zoning, No. 2245 (Jan 2026) | Anything larger than a duplex needs a landscaping plan showing “screened refuse containment areas”; site plans must show garbage collection areas. Owners must keep required landscaping “free from refuse and debris and with a neat appearance” (s. 7.5). | Through development approval and zoning enforcement. |
By-law 1663 was not amended between 2022 and September 2026. The city's on-line by-law library (searched October 2026) lists nothing for “unsightly”, “vacant”, “unsafe” or “rental”. Council updated the penalty-notice schedule three times in this period. By-law 2209 (2022) added the burning, business licence and pool by-laws, By-law 2259 (January 2025) added fines for the traffic and animal by-laws, and By-law 2282 (August 2026) accompanied the new land drainage by-law. None was presented as adding the junk and weeds by-law. Weed complaints also fall under the provincial Noxious Weeds Act. The city's weed-control page says it “makes inspections and follows up on complaints” and charges cleanup costs to the owner “through the tax rolls.” Inside a rental, repairs are mainly a provincial matter: landlords have an obligation to repair under section 59 of the Residential Tenancies Act, and tenants can go to the Residential Tenancies Branch.
Rental safety: the 2024 push on basement suites
In August 2024 the City Manager told council that three years of voluntary compliance with By-law 2157 had not worked:
“Based on our estimation, there could be up to several hundred of these secondary suites present in Steinbach that we are aware of. However, only several dozen to date have taken voluntary measures and contacted the city to ensure that, that they do comply.”
Troy Warkentin, City Manager · Aug 20, 2024 · 0:13:28
“Even though we still believe that the best method of compliance is voluntary, The city will be moving forward with these more proactive measures effective immediately.”
Troy Warkentin, City Manager, after describing letters to owners believed to have suites, work orders on title and possible decommissioning · Aug 20, 2024 · 0:14:49
“And even though the fines are significant, the value of life is very significant. And that's why I think I would support these strong fines of $1,000 per day for noncompliance.”
Mayor Earl Funk · Aug 20, 2024 · 0:18:06
“This isn't only for tenants, which is obviously very important 'cause they live there on a day-to-day basis, but it's also for our firefighters.”
Councillor Susan Penner · Aug 20, 2024 · 0:20:53
“But especially in rental units where people are paying rent, to have safety is so important.”
Councillor Bill Hiebert · Aug 20, 2024 · 0:24:09
The minutes record that council members “voiced their support of proposed measures,” including fines. The item was an update, so no resolution was passed. Staff said there had been “several recent house fires” in rental properties whose basement suites did not comply, with no serious injuries. The city's suite page says renters can ask the city to inspect their unit, and that a passed inspection earns a Certificate of Compliance valid for three years. There is no suite registry. Between August 2024 and September 2026 no report came back to council on how many suites were contacted, inspected, ordered to fix problems or fined.
Who enforces, and how
“Every year we appoint our community service officer as our weeds inspector. Makes sense to continue doing so.”
Councillor Michael Zwaagstra · Mar 7, 2023 · 0:13:31
“Protective Services includes RCMP, 47 firefighters and 8 fire trucks, As well as a community services officer to enforce city bylaws.”
Brian Hrehirchuk, Senior Manager, Finance, presenting the 2025 financial plan · Mar 4, 2025 · 0:06:04
“Recommendations being that $65,000 be allocated to procurement of a second CSO truck now that we do have 2 CSOs”
Adam Thiessen, Senior Manager, Corporate Services, on a $200,000 provincial safety grant · Jul 21, 2026 · 1:22:18
Budget presentations from 2023 to 2025 list one community services officer “to enforce city bylaws.” In March 2026 two community safety officers were appointed weed inspectors, and the 2026 plan refers to “community services officers.” The officers also enforce weeds, parking and other by-laws, and respond to concerns about encampments. Council deferred the grant decision, including the truck, to a committee meeting in August 2026. Council received no enforcement statistics in 2022–2026: no counts of yard notices, city cleanups or charges added to taxes. It also did not adopt an enforcement policy saying which complaints come first or how fast they are answered.
Garbage at apartment sites
“…obviously the apartments are needing to have like garbage and recyclable bins dumpsters. … And, and those dumpsters are typically really full. Um, I just went by one of them yesterday and it's— it was overflowing again.”
N.P., Whitby Cres resident behind the Woodhaven Ave apartments · Mar 1, 2022 · 0:43:22
“There will be a fence around the dumpster from what I can understand.”
Mayor Earl Funk, on the new building being approved that night · Mar 1, 2022 · 0:48:21
“The dumpster's in one spot. Usually there is a fence around it. Maybe that hasn't happened yet, but—”
Mayor Earl Funk, on multi-family sites generally · Mar 1, 2022 · 0:48:37
“There is a matter of the proposed garbage collection and garbage bin area. While it's shown on the drawing, it does not appear to be adequate based on the typical needs that are required for projects of this size…”
Troy Warkentin, City Manager, relaying the city engineer's review of a seniors' building plan · Mar 17, 2026 · 1:23:29
The city collects garbage from businesses and supplies front-load bins of 4 or 6 cubic yards (city page). Bin areas are checked when a site plan is reviewed, and the 2026 zoning by-law requires screened refuse areas. Once a building is open, overflowing bins and litter fall under By-law 1663's 21-day notice process. No rule sets how often apartment bins must be emptied or what size they must be. Residents raised garbage again at hearings in March 2024, May 2025 and April 2026.
What residents told council about upkeep
Upkeep comes up at rezoning hearings, where neighbours judge a new building by how the existing rentals on the site have been kept. These are residents' own descriptions. They were not tested at the hearings, and this page does not identify any owner.
“…if we cannot trust you or your mother to properly manage and maintain that one property that causes a lot of grief in our area, how can we trust you to manage a 32-unit complex?”
L.A., Third St resident, to the applicant for a 32-unit building · Aug 1, 2023 · 0:43:00
“So I'm just really concerned and iterating that the rental people that are going to be there are not going to be up to par.”
G.F., Lumber Ave resident, same hearing · Aug 1, 2023 · 0:51:09
“Our home was previously a rental property and it was quite run down, it was old. We put some work into it and over the next couple of years, the properties around us also were purchased…”
E.D., Hanover St resident · Mar 19, 2024 · 1:13:01
“Some of the lower upkeep on a number of the rental areas in the surrounding couple blocks radius and the renters that inhabit them. There's been like increasing thefts and some vandalism.”
R.B., resident, at the 330 First St hearing · Mar 19, 2024 · 2:00:18
“Like, we gotta look at lawn that is sometimes 18 inches high in the summer, weeds blowing all over the place. … So are the landlords going to be absentee landlords, or are they going to take care that this property is going to be maintained?”
C.M., Henry St resident, on a rental house to be replaced by a sixplex · May 6, 2025 · 0:14:28
“I think it's typically on renters to look after their own, you know, yard cutting and snow removal, that stuff.”
J.L., applicant, replying · May 6, 2025 · 0:16:58
“I was always of the opinion that if you own the property, you're responsible to maintain it. So you can say, well, I'll get my tenant to maintain it, but if the tenant doesn't do it, the onus is still on the owner to look after his property.”
C.M., Henry St resident · May 6, 2025 · 0:17:18
“…people who are going to rent these 12-plexes also potentially long-term aren't going to look after it necessarily as well. We've seen that in other places.”
T.N., McKenzie Ave resident · Sept 1, 2026 · 0:27:17
| Hearing | Upkeep concern raised | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 2022 | Parking variance for The Bridge, near Woodhaven Ave: overflowing dumpsters and litter at existing apartments | Approved, unanimous |
| Aug 1, 2023 | 360–368 Third St, 32 units: rentals on the site described as poorly kept, with police visits; more trouble “because of the rentals” | Denied, unanimous |
| Mar 19, 2024 | 268/274 Home St, 32 units: former run-down rentals renovated by new owner-occupants | Second reading 4–3 |
| Mar 19, 2024 | 330 First St, apartments: low upkeep of nearby rentals; garbage blowing into yards | Approved, unanimous |
| May 6, 2025 | 286 Henry St, sixplex: 18-inch grass, weeds and garbage at the current rental | Approved, unanimous |
| Apr 7, 2026 | 492–506 McKenzie Ave, 48 units: garbage spilling onto the neighbouring church property | Approved, unanimous |
| Sept 1, 2026 | 58 Giesbrecht St, 12 units: renters “aren't going to look after it” | Second reading, unanimous |
Renters and supporters spoke at the same hearings. Some said renting was their only option (see Housing and development). There is no evidence on the record that tenants in Steinbach keep properties worse than owners do. In the Henry St case the owner agreed the house was an eyesore and said yard care and snow removal would be hired out once the new building was up (minutes). In denying Third St, council members cited the number of units, the lack of consultation and the Official Community Plan's transition zone. None of them mentioned how the existing rentals had been kept.
Follow-through
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| Jan 5, 2021 | By-law 2157, Dwelling Safety Standards, passed (before this record); public awareness campaign follows |
| Mar 2022 – Mar 2026 | Community services officer appointed weed inspector each year (R22-073, R23-048, R24-052, R25-076); two officers named in March 2026 |
| May 17, 2022 | By-law 2209 amends the penalty-notice schedule for the new burning, business licence and pool by-laws |
| Aug 1, 2023 | Third St rezoning denied after a 40-plus-name petition and many objectors (R23-160) |
| Aug 20, 2024 | City Manager announces proactive enforcement of By-law 2157; council voices support for fines (no resolution) |
| Jan 21, 2025 | By-law 2259 replaces the penalty-notice schedule (traffic and animal fines); junk and weeds by-law still not included |
| Jan 20, 2026 | Zoning By-law 2245 third reading (R26-015): screened refuse areas required in landscaping plans |
| Jul 21, 2026 | Staff propose a second CSO truck from a provincial safety grant; decision deferred to committee |
| Aug 4, 2026 | By-law 2282 amends the penalty schedule alongside the new Land Drainage By-law 2274 |
| 2022 – Sept 2026 | No motion, report or discussion on a property standards by-law, a vacant-building by-law, a rental registry or rental licensing |
Their reasons for not doing more
1Tougher enforcement could cost low-rent housing
“I think one of the reasons that council has held off to put compliance and enforcement in play is potentially there will be a loss of many low-end rental units in Steinbach…”
Councillor Jac Siemens, who supported enforcing By-law 2157 · Aug 20, 2024 · 0:21:43
The mayor answered the same night: “But what does it cost to put in an egress? What does it cost to put in a fire alarm, a fire extinguisher? These are small, small costs that should not affect the cost of the rental that much” (0:24:32). The by-law was itself a compromise. Staff said holding all rental suites to the National Building Code would have meant “some significant degree of decommissioning,” so council adopted basic life-safety standards instead (0:10:53). The concern about losing low-rent units is real, but it explains a slow start, not the lack of any report on results.
2Voluntary compliance comes first
“Well, like I said, the method of voluntary compliance is always much preferred.”
Troy Warkentin, City Manager · Aug 20, 2024 · 0:16:41
Peers say the same: Winkler's policy calls education “the preferred first step.” The difference is the next step. For yards and junk, Steinbach's only tools after a notice are a city cleanup billed to taxes or a court case. Brandon, Winnipeg and Winkler can also fine owners. For suites, three and a half years of voluntary compliance produced “several dozen” confirmations out of an estimated several hundred.
3Redevelopment will fix neglected properties
“Generally, when we see infill applications come to us, we see them in more areas that are on the verge of needing redevelopment, areas that have been neglected for years, sometimes decades, and are in need of redevelopment.”
Councillor Damian Penner · Mar 19, 2024 · 1:43:10
“That means those houses, derelict homes, are going to come out.”
Councillor Jac Siemens, on three demolition permits · Dec 17, 2024 · 0:49:09
“I would imagine with the new garbage pickup, the dumpster, there wouldn't be garbage bags lying around. It would be in the dumpster. So that would be much cleaner that way.”
Mayor Earl Funk, answering C.M.'s concern about the Henry St rental · May 6, 2025 · 0:15:57
Redevelopment can end a problem at one address. Residents' point was different, though: the city already had a rule against 18-inch grass and garbage, and the property stayed that way for years until a rezoning came along. In the Third St and Henry St cases, the run-down houses were being rented out while the owners waited to redevelop. Neighbours then see a rezoning hearing as the only place to raise upkeep, even though upkeep is not a land-use question. A new building also brings its own bins, which residents at three later hearings worried about.
4Litter and nuisance behaviour are police matters
“…the littering, the theft, um, that is something that will have to be taken up with the RCMP.”
Mayor Earl Funk, replying to N.P. · Mar 1, 2022 · 0:46:47
Theft is a police matter. Overflowing bins and rubbish on private land are not: By-law 1663 makes owners of an “apartment building” responsible for rubbish on their premises and the lanes beside them. The city's property standards web page links weed control, graffiti and drainage pages and a general contact form, but has no page on junk or garbage on private property.
5Rental licensing: no reason given, because it never came up
No council member, staff report or delegation proposed rental licensing or a landlord registry in any of the 103 meetings. No councillor has spoken against it either, so there is no stated reason to report. Concerns about cost to landlords and rents (reason 1) would likely apply.
Part 2 · How Steinbach compares
Scorecard
How Steinbach's rules and enforcement compare with other Manitoba and Canadian cities.
Strong ahead of or matching good practice On par typical practice Partial started, with gaps Gap common elsewhere, not done here
| Measure | Steinbach | What others do | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yard, junk and grass rules | By-law 1663: rubbish, junk, grass over 6 in, odours; notice, cleanup, cost to taxes. | Morden (2006) and Winkler (2017) work much the same way; Brandon caps grass at 20 cm. | On par |
| Building exterior maintenance standards | None. By-law 1663 covers junk, not rot, roofs, siding or broken windows. | Brandon 7282 and Portage la Prairie 21-8723 set exterior standards; Winkler 2191-17 covers “disrepair of buildings.” | Gap |
| Fines for yard and junk violations | No fine in By-law 1663; not on the penalty-notice schedule. | Brandon issues penalty notices; Winnipeg tickets owners who ignore a notice; Winkler fines by the day; Portage up to $500 a day. | Gap |
| Rental fire and life-safety standards | By-law 2157: alarms and egress in every unit, $1,000 a day, tenant-requested inspections. | Portage la Prairie requires alarms in rentals, with fines up to $500 a day. | Strong |
| Enforcing rental safety | Proactive campaign announced Aug 2024; no results reported since. | Toronto inspects registered buildings and publishes the scores. | Partial |
| Enforcement staff and service standards | Two officers by 2026, mostly complaint-driven; no council policy or response target. | Winkler: council-approved complaint and enforcement policy (2025); Winnipeg: inspection within 10 days. | Partial |
| Vacant and derelict buildings | No by-law (vehicles only). | Portage la Prairie: derelict building by-law (2024), first demolition that year; Winnipeg: boarding permits and an empty-building fee. | Gap |
| Garbage areas at multi-unit buildings | Screened refuse areas required at site plan; city bins and pickup; no rule on emptying frequency. | Toronto requires a waste management plan for apartment buildings ($500 fine without one). | On par |
| Rental licensing or registry | None, never discussed. | No Manitoba peer found; Waterloo, Oshawa and Toronto license or register rentals. | On par |
Key findings
1The core by-law is 23 years old and has no ticket
By-law 1663 reaches almost every yard problem residents described: long grass, weeds, garbage, junk. But its only remedies are a city cleanup billed to taxes, which takes 21 days and staff time, or a court case. Steinbach already uses penalty notices for derelict vehicles, noise, animals and suites, so adding yard and junk contraventions to the schedule would be a small step. It would answer the “voluntary first” approach (reason 2) with a next step short of court. By-law 1663 also says nothing about the condition of a building itself. Brandon and Portage la Prairie both rewrote their rules recently, in 2023 and 2021, to cover roofs, walls, windows and pests.
2The right rental-safety rule, with unknown results
By-law 2157 is stronger than most Manitoba peers' rules on paper. It covers every unit, carries a $1,000 daily fine and lets renters request inspections. The 2024 crackdown was a good step. What's missing is a public count of suites found, inspected, fixed, closed and fined. A count like that would also show whether the low-rent units Councillor Siemens worried about (reason 1) were actually lost.
3Upkeep complaints end up at rezoning hearings
Seven hearings in this record turned partly on how existing rentals were kept. Rezoning can't fix upkeep, and council rightly decides land use on other grounds. But with no visible enforcement record, neighbours fall back on the hearing (reason 3). Published response times and enforcement statistics would give them somewhere else to go.
4Licensing isn't the only model
Manitoba cities have tackled problem rentals with maintenance-and-occupancy standards, derelict-building by-laws and fines, not licensing. Licensing in Ontario comes with annual fees and inspections that landlords may pass on to tenants (reason 5). The Ontario programs are also narrower than they sound. Waterloo licenses low-rise rentals, Oshawa only rentals near its college and university, and Toronto only buildings of 3+ storeys and 10+ units.
Peer by-laws and programs
| Municipality | Rule | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Brandon, MB | Community Standards By-law 7282 (2023) | Yards (grass under 20 cm), buildings showing “serious disregard for general maintenance and upkeep” (rot, missing shingles, broken windows), boarding standards for empty homes. Violation notice with 24 hours to 15 days to comply; city does the work and adds the cost to taxes; penalty notices under its Compliance By-law. |
| Winkler, MB | Unsightly Property By-law 2191-17 (2017); Complaint and Enforcement Policy GP2025-001 (2025) | Rubbish, unsafe structures, “disrepair of buildings,” grass, yard parking. Warning, order, city remedy charged to taxes; fines set in its fees by-law, each day a separate offence. The policy patrols public land, handles private land by complaint, and ranks complaints from safety (priority 1) to unsightly yards (priority 3). |
| Morden, MB | Derelict, Abandoned and Unsightly Property By-law 22-2006 | Grass and weeds, stored appliances, unregistered vehicles, dangerous structures. Notice, then city remedy charged to taxes. Close to Steinbach's model. |
| Portage la Prairie, MB | Maintenance and Occupancy By-law 21-8723 (2021); vacant and derelict building by-law (2024) | Minimum standards for dwellings: exteriors, roofs, pest prevention, heating, basement rental units, smoke and CO alarms in rentals. Fines up to $500 a day, evacuation of unsafe premises, city repair or demolition charged to taxes. Under the 2024 by-law the city demolished its first derelict house and said it had 25–30 such properties (PortageOnline). |
| Selkirk, MB | Property maintenance standards; Dangers to Public Safety By-law 5251 | Owners and occupiers must keep property free of rubbish, unsightly conditions, weeds, wrecked vehicles and stored appliances. Complaints go through Citizen Support; enforcement focuses on education first. |
| Winnipeg, MB | Neighbourhood Liveability By-law 1/2008; Vacant Buildings By-law 79/2010 | Inspection within 10 days of a complaint, notice by registered mail, then a ticket. The city also investigates complaints about living conditions inside rental homes. Vacant buildings: residential boarding permit $2,940; an empty-building fee starting at 1% of assessed value, rising to 5%. |
| Waterloo, ON | Rental Housing Licensing By-law 2025-044 (replacing 2011-047) | Annual licence for low-rise rentals. Owners file a property maintenance plan, parking plan, and electrical and gas safety forms; the city may inspect. Unlicensed operation: $350 to $25,000 for an individual's first offence. |
| Oshawa, ON | Residential Rental Housing Licensing | Required only in the area around Durham College and Ontario Tech University. $50 application, then $275 plus $75 per bedroom for a two-year licence; inspected by licensing and fire inspectors. |
| Toronto, ON | RentSafeTO (Chapter 354) | Buildings with 3+ storeys and 10+ units register every year ($30.82 per unit in 2026), get city evaluations and must keep a waste management plan ($500 fine without one) and inspect for pests every 30 days. |
| Steinbach, MB | By-laws 1663 (2003) and 2157 (2021) | Yard notice and cleanup at owner's cost; strong suite-safety rule; no exterior standards, yard fines, derelict-building rules or rental registry |
What “doing all it can” would add
- Replace By-law 1663 with a community standards by-law that covers building exteriors, pests and boarded homes, as Brandon (2023) and Portage la Prairie (2021) did.
- Add yard, junk and garbage contraventions to the penalty-notice schedule, so officers have a step between a warning and a city cleanup.
- Report on By-law 2157 every year: suites identified, inspected, fixed, decommissioned and fined, and how many low-rent units were lost. A free, voluntary suite list built from Certificates of Compliance would help renters check a unit before they sign.
- Adopt a council-approved enforcement policy with complaint priorities and response times, as Winkler did, and publish yearly counts of notices, cleanups and charges added to taxes.
- Pass a vacant and derelict building by-law, so empty houses awaiting redevelopment have to be secured and kept up.
- Set garbage standards for multi-unit sites: bin size per unit, enclosure upkeep and collection frequency, written into development agreements.
- Study rental licensing before deciding. Compare a light registry with Ontario-style licensing, including the cost per unit and who would pay it.
About this page
- Transcripts. Meeting quotes come from automatic transcripts of the official videos. The transcription often misspells the city's name; quotes show it correctly as Steinbach (Councillor Siemens' quote of Aug 20, 2024). Other words are left as transcribed, including an unusual capital letter mid-sentence in the City Manager's Aug 20, 2024 quote. Quotes are trimmed only with …. Each quote links to its moment in the video.
- Speakers. Every quote is from a speaker identified with high confidence in the speaker maps. Two labels were left out. One is a medium-confidence label that merges two Third St residents (Aug 1, 2023, 0:52:24); it also raised concerns about rental upkeep. The other is a Henry St remark (May 6, 2025, 0:17:47) that the transcript puts under a councillor's label but that belongs to the owner, per the minutes and speaker notes.
- Names. Council members, the mayor and city staff are named in full. Residents, applicants and other members of the public are identified only by initials. Property owners are not named.
- Residents' claims. Descriptions of specific properties, tenants or police visits are the speakers' own and are unproven. They were not tested at the hearings.
- Coverage. All 103 regular council meetings from January 2022 to September 15, 2026 were searched, along with their minutes and motions. Committee meetings are not recorded. The city publishes no enforcement statistics, so this page can't say how many yard notices, cleanups or suite orders were issued. Resolutions adding “accounts receivable” to the tax roll don't say what the charges are for.
- Unverified items. The text of By-law 2282 (Aug 2026) was not reviewed. Staff presented it as adding the land drainage fines, and the statement that yard and junk fines are not on the schedule is based on By-law 2259 (2025). Brandon's and Winnipeg's fine amounts and Waterloo's licence fees could not be confirmed and are left out. The Portage la Prairie derelict-building by-law's number could not be confirmed. We found no long-term rental licensing in the Manitoba peers but did not check every municipality. Selkirk may have rules beyond those posted on its property maintenance page.
Sources
Council meetings (official YouTube recordings): Mar 1, 2022 · Mar 7, 2023 · Aug 1, 2023 · Mar 19, 2024 · Aug 20, 2024 · Dec 17, 2024 · Jan 21, 2025 · Mar 4, 2025 · May 6, 2025 · Mar 3, 2026 · Mar 17, 2026 · Apr 7, 2026 · Jul 21, 2026 · Aug 4, 2026 · Sept 1, 2026
- Steinbach by-laws: 1663 Junk, Weeds & Nuisance; 2157 Dwelling Safety Standards; 1641 Derelict Vehicles; 2245 Zoning; by-law library
- By-law 2259, Administrative Penalty Schedule A (Dec 17, 2024 council package, adopted Jan 21, 2025)
- Steinbach pages: Secondary suites and dwelling safety; Weed control; Property standards & maintenance; Commercial garbage collection; 2026 financial plan
- Manitoba: Residential Tenancies Branch, repairs
- Manitoba peers: Brandon 7282; Winkler 2191-17 and enforcement page and policy; Morden 22-2006; Portage la Prairie 21-8723 and derelict by-law demolition (PortageOnline, Sept 2024); Selkirk property maintenance; Winnipeg property standards and vacant building fees
- Rental licensing: Waterloo; Oshawa; Toronto RentSafeTO fees and fines