St. Patrick's Day guest policy at student residences changed after outcry

Tenants living in student apartment buildingson King Street and Ezra Avenue will be allowed to have one guest this St. Patrick's Day weekend.

Centurion Property Associates Inc., whichowns threebuildings including The Marq on King Street, have changed their decision toonly allow35 guestsin the entire building.

In an email on March 7, the company told residents they put the policy in place toreduce fire code issues and potential overcrowding of the building.

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On Friday, Greg Romundt, president of CenturionProperty Associates Inc., told CBCNews in an emailthey will now allowone 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," Romundtsaid.

"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 guestsand tenants of thebuildings. Guests are going to have to be accompanied by the tenant and havephoto ID on hand to be able to enter the building.

Romundtsaid they are going to hire private security for their buildingsthat 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.

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However, Paris Kiani, a fourth year political science student at WilfridLaurier 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 mediawas 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 CBCNews.

She said that policy was only put in place for St. Patrick's Day and believes it'sillegal.

Kiani said she spoke withthe 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 TenanciesAct, as the buildings arenot affiliated with the either university.

However, Romundtsaid 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.

Kianiagreedwith 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 withtheLandlord and Tenant Board and said she plans to file a complaint.

Police won't check for wristbands

The Marqwas not the only student building to put in place a guest limit. A Redditpost 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'sThe Morning Editionpolice won't be checkingwristbands at buildings during St. Patrick's Day.

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"We are not aware of those policies," Larkinsaid. "Our focus is not to police the hallways of apartment buildings. I want to assure the public that we are not checking wristbands."

Larkinsaid there is theTrespass to Property Act in place for owners whichauthorizespoliceto 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.