The City of Waterloo is investigating after receiving a number of complaints about post-secondary student rental housing.

Maintenance requests were allegedly leaked after a data breach from a local rental housing company.

City officials say they don't condone data breaches, but admit that is how they got their hands on the complaints in the first place.

According to the city, there were about 6,000 work orders.

While other details are few, we do know that the complaints come from several different buildings, all in the student housing area in Waterloo.

The problems outlined range from electrical and plumbing to cleanliness.

The City of Waterloo says that tenants should contact their landlord or property manager first to report any issues.

While the city can look into common area maintenance, it can't enter dwelling units unless the occupants give permission to enter.

The city is restricted to helping with maintenance issues: things like key deposits or rent payments are dealt with provincially.

"So the city will, once they do an inspection, if a work order is issued, then we'll issue that with a timeframe for compliance," explains Shane Turner with the city.

"The timeframe for compliance will depend on the nature of the work, and if the work isn't done in that timeframe then we have the ability to lay a charge against the property owner for failing to comply with a city order, or we can go in and do the work and then bill it to the landowner's property taxes."

A student protest about the state of housing conditions is planned for Monday at 5 p.m. in front of Waterloo City Hall.