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The problem with older housing stock in midtown Toronto especially is that it is not well maintained. I've learned my lesson... will never live in a rent-controlled older building. The condition of many of them is absolutely shocking. I was in one of these buildings (not this Mt. Pleasant one, but similar) for five years and within two years, we started having problems with the "renovation" and of course, the super, landlord and contractors were either negligent or incompetent. The cheap, below-market rent and location is why I stayed put. My floor had about 20 units and I would estimate that maybe 4-5 units consisted of people who've been there longer than their lease term-- all of them retired or on fixed income.
In most cases, the landlord purchased the property or built it when the land was worth a fraction of what it is now. Landlords would rather the building fall into disrepair and then be condemned than maintain a rent-controlled building on land that's infinitely more valuable. Mt. Pleasant, Broadway, Erskine, Montgomery, Merton... they're all waiting for the redevelopment bucks and you can tell from the filthy walkways, unshoveled driveways, and crumbling brick facades. There is zero pride in ownership and there is a reason younger tenants turn over in these buildings and the older folks stay put-- the young can afford to leave. The condition of the individual units housing tenured, older residents is something out of a horror movie. It's really grim, talking to residents of some of these buildings... they're dying to get out, but can't.
RUN don't walk away from a midtown Toronto older, rent-controlled building with below-market rents. Nothing-- nothing-- will improve from the moment you sign the lease.
We recently moved out of this building because we could not tolerate the filthy common areas and it was becoming increasingly unhygienic and malodorous. It turns out they do not do basic cleaning of the common areas as often as other buildings, and when they do clean which is about once every one to two months, they are not thorough and only spot clean the floors and do not use professional detergent, scrubbing or waxing machines. The doors, walls, stairs and stair rails are terribly sticky with layers of dirt and stains. We had the loud jet engine noise in our apartment whenever the tenant above switched on their water, and noise echoes throughout the building. In addition to silverfish we sometimes had huge centipedes race across our floors. The building is very old and quite damp that we needed to run a dehumidifier most of the time as well as a portable heater during the colder months because they do not turn on the building heating on the date designated by the city, and when they finally do the temperature is set rather low.
Even though our apartment is nicely painted, with the poorly maintained common areas I do not consider this a well-maintained building and communication with management is difficult. I was surprised to encounter such a building in this mid-scale neighborhood, and frankly, it was not worth our time moving in here.
The landlord lies - and I don't mean a tiny lie here and there, he lies to your face about absolutely everything. This is perhaps one of the most troubling things about the situation. He actually said to me in an email that he entered my apartment and determined that there was no noise (from the "jet engine" pipes). He obviously wanted that in writing in case I decided to take him to the Rental Board because he never entered my apartment at all! Ever. That is crazy making stuff. The guy is as slippery as an eel.
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We are not certain who the building owner is because our rent is made payable to the building address as its name, but the property manager/landlord tended to give us the runaround regarding various repairs. For example, he would tell us he was sending a tradesperson to do a repair but instead sent a maintenance person who had no training and did a lousy job, or he would delay getting our front entrance buzzer set up. What is most disgusting is that he does not seem to care whether the building is kept adequately clean and disinfected.
It has been extremely frustrating and time-consuming having to play a cat and mouse game with an unscrupulous property manager regarding very simple matters that most other buildings have no issues accomplishing, that it is truly not worth the rent amount for which he is charging. I wholeheartedly do NOT recommend this building.
I'm living at 309 Mount Pleasant for the last 12 years and I'm very happy tenant. I like the size of my apartment and the location of the building. It is a small building with walking distance to the Subway and Sobeys. I have no problems with the new management, they fixed all my maintenance requests in time comparable to the previous owners.
Im curious, for the people who have issues, has anyone gone through rentsafeto, rental housing enforcement unit, or the landlord and tenant board to deal with your issues?
I didn't have time to install curtains plus my windows were facing the front street, I covered them with paper and management gave me a hassle. It was over such a petty thing. The guy running this place seems like a bully. Repairs, ech. I wasn't impressed with the timing. There is no superintendant in the building, they would some times try to manipulate us to do what a super is supposed to be doing. They don't do what they're supposed to do.
Last edited by Jess888; 03-19-2024 at 09:15 AM..
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