Residents of a Kipps Lane apartment complex say they’re growing frustrated over the lack of hot water in their building. “Wake up in the morning, start boiling water to have your morning wash. You’re washing dishes, you need to boil your water, so it is time consuming,” explained Richard Gillespie, a tenant at 756 Kipps Lane. And when it comes to showers, “Well let’s just say I haven’t had one in a bit,” he said. Gillespie says the hot water in his mid-rise apartment building has been out for about three weeks, with the exception of one day in the middle when it was fixed temporarily. On July 27, property owner SIREG Management Inc issued a written notice apologizing for the hot water interruption. The notice, posted throughout the building, went on to say, “Our Maintenance Team and specialized technicians have been working continuously to address the issue. However, due to the complexity of the repair, additional time is required to ensure the system is fully restored and operating safely.” But that doesn’t help tenant Harley Miller, who is between jobs and says he has no way of taking a hot shower before attending job interviews. “Trying to go to interviews and stuff and clean up beforehand and stay tidy, it’s been a bit of a hard time with the hot water not there. And it’s been ongoing for just too long right now,” said Miller. Under Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act, landlords are required to provide an uninterrupted supply of hot and cold running water. It is classified as a vital service. Jordan Smith of the East of Adelaide Chapter of ACORN, a tenants’ advocacy group, says laws protecting tenants mean little if they’re not enforced at the local level first. “If they call bylaw enforcement, they can get the process rolling, they can submit the emails, they can submit the photos but there’s no sense of urgency. It is written into law that this is an emergency, this is an urgent situation, but there’s no enforcement on the ground right now. That really leaves the tenants in a really difficult situation,” Smith said. In a statement to CTV News, the city of London says Municipal Compliance officers have been responding to complaints about lack of hot water at the Kipps Lane apartment, and that it remains an ongoing matter. “Staff continue to work with property management, which has been cooperative, to address the issue and restore adequate hot water service for affected residents,” the statement said. “They said as soon as they have a timeline on when it’s going to be repaired they’re going to let us know. But so far, we just don’t have that timeline,” said Gillespie, as he braced for the cold reality of another day with no hot water. CTV News reached out to SIREG Management Inc. about the hot water problem but did not receive a response by publish deadline.
