A new condominium creation and conversion policy for the City of North Battleford has been adopted.
The policy received the approval of North Battleford city council at Tuesday night's regular council meeting.
The condo conversion policy had been in the works for some time in response to condo conversion issues in the province. Many municipalities saw apartment buildings being converted into condominiums, with tenants slapped with large housing cost increases
At a previous meeting, administration indicated the new policy would be similar to the policy adopted by the City of Saskatoon.
The purpose is to ensure orderly conversion to condominiums without significantly reducing the availability of rental accommodation or causing undue hardship to tenants.
The policy, according to Mayor Ian Hamilton, simply "articulates what has been put into practise after a conversion of Killdeer Apartments a number of years ago."
Since then, the mayor said, work has been done to determine how other municipalities have handled the issue.
"This is just a culmination of the work that had been done in the past," said the mayor.
Other councillors praised the move to get the policy into writing, saying they felt it was a proactive measure so the city can be ready should the issue come up again. There have been no condo conversion applications since the attempted Killdeer conversion that ultimately did not take place. No condo conversion applications are currently before the city, Hamilton confirmed.
The new policy allows North Battleford council to review the application for a condo conversion if the vacancy rate in the Battlefords is between three and 4.5 per cent as shown in the most current Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Rental Market Survey.
Hamilton told reporters the latest figures indicate the vacancy rate in the Battlefords is just under four per cent.
If it falls below three per cent, no application for condo conversion shall be considered unless the building has been continuously vacant for 12 months; if the application relates to a building that is subject to a repair/demolition order or is in a ruinous or dilapidated state and contains corrective measures to be taken to remedy the situation; or if the owner obtains the consent of 75 per cent of the tenants.
