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Toronto Condo Rental Restrictions
One decision Toronto condo buyers have to make when choosing a building or a unit in any existing building is whether to buy a condominium in a building with rental restrictions.
Not all condos allow renters in Toronto.
Rental restrictions mean that a building restricts the number of rentals allowed in a building or event outright prohibits them. This results in a condominium building that is comprised of all or mostly condo owners instead.
In most cases, choosing a condo based on this is simply a personal choice. Owners tend to create a sense of community and can often take more pride in their living situation than renters, who are not responsible for keeping common areas clean or fixing things because their landlord handles it. Of course, some renters are stellar and everyone is different, but it may be something to consider when choosing a condominium in Toronto.
Before you start shopping for a new or resale condominium, speak to your Toronto real estate agent about your wants and needs regarding the condo you’ll choose, and tell them how you feel about rental restrictions. They will be able to find out the building’s policies on rentals or might even know them already and be able to steer you towards a condominium you’ll love living in.
For more information, read this great article in Moneyville on rental restrictions in condos.
Can You Keep A Pet In A Toronto Condominium?
It’s an issue that comes up frequently, and one that can cause great hesitation for buyers who are thinking of moving into a Toronto condominium – are pets allowed? And what if you already have pets that you just can’t part with?
There are ways around "no pets" rules, but they are hardly worthwhile.
This very issue was addressed in a recent Moneyville article, discussing two condo buyers who made their offer conditional upon being satisfied with the condominium’s certificate of status – which contains all of the condominium rules, including ones relating to pets.
Upon finding out that there was a rule stating only one pet was allowed per unit and that pet couldn’t exceed 25 pounds – they had some concerns about their two dogs, each weighing almost 50 pounds – but their options to get around the rule weren’t worth it.
There are two ways to keep your pets with you when you move into a “no pets” condo:
1. You are able to get 80 per cent of the owners in the building, as required, to agree to change the rules to allow pets. This is an extremely unlikely scenario: Many people move to condos because of the “no pets” rules, some condo owners may be worried about noise, and worse yet, some owners in the building may have already had to make a heartbreaking decision and part with their own pets to move into the building – they may not take kindly to a rule change after they followed the rules.
2. You find out that the condo, while stating “no pets” in their rules, doesn’t bother to enforce this rule and doesn’t seem to care – people in the building may have pets and be open about it. If this is the case, and you bring a pet into a building like this, in a situation where the building pursues legal action to get rid of you and your pet, their inability and inaction to enforce the rules previously will likely work against them.
Obviously, since the first scenario is more than unlikely to go your way and the second scenario involves a legal headache, its best to just be very clear about your condo’s pet rules before committing to buy by reviewing your condominium status certificate.
*Keep in mind that if you live in an apartment in Ontario, you can have a pet even if the rules state “no pets” – unless they are dangerous animals or keeping them is against local bylaws. This is because it is considered a human rights violation to evict you for having a pet in your apartment. Condominiums are different because of their pre-existing rules that you, in effect, agree to when you buy.
Vertical Toronto In The Toronto Star
Part of the Toronto Star's condo info-graphic.
The Toronto Star just published an amazing info-graphic all about Toronto condominiums.
It’s definitely worth checking out if you are thinking about buying a condo in the coming months and are interested in Toronto condo life.
It’s peppered with fun facts such as:
- The most expensive parking spots in the city (a parking spot at the Florian in Yorkville will cost you $75,000… And that’s not even the priciest spot).
- You cannot keep pet ducks on your condominium balcony in the city of Toronto.
- While most people are aware that many tall buildings forgo the 13th floor because of superstition and perceived bad luck associated with the number, older buildings may also skip floor number four: it sounds like the word for death in Cantonese.
- The golden-crowned kinglet was the bird species with the most casualties in 2005 thanks to Toronto’s towering condo windows. But peregrine falcons have also returned to the city, perching on condo ledges and feasting on delicious pigeons.
- Newer condominium elevators travel at speeds of up to 800 feet per minute, while office elevators in Toronto can travel up to twice that fast.
The graphic also lists the smallest studio condos ever in Toronto, along with the largest penthouses – complete with outstanding floor plans (the smallest studio condominium in Toronto easily fits into the master bedroom of the city’s most extravagant penthouse at the Four Seasons.
The info-graphic also includes a graphic that helps you visualize the tallest buildings in the city – as well as those under construction to see which buildings will come out on top once they’re finished. The info-graphic is available at the Toronto Star’s website here.
Newest Mississauga Condo Listing: 4205 Shipp Drive #208
One bedroom, 737 square-foot Mississauga condo
Our newest active Mississauga condo listing is a beautiful one-bedroom condo in a quiet and well-maintained and managed building.
The spacious kitchen is one of the highlights of this Mississauga condo!
There is plenty nearby for people of all ages and lifestyles, including great shopping at Square One, plenty of parks and a community recreation centre.
The kitchen is one of the best highlights of this well-designed, east-facing condo, and its quite spacious with stainless steel appliances – effortlessly move throughout the kitchen when entertaining! Track lighting and lots of natural light from wall-to-wall windows complete the package.
The building has fitness facilities as well as an indoor pool, along with plenty of extras: a sauna, a tanning room, tennis courts, a billiards room and many more amenities.
Fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer, dryer, window coverings and electric light fixtures all included. Your condo fees will cover the usual building insurance, parking and common elements, as well as water, heat, hydro and central air.
For more information on this Mississauga condo listing, including a video tour, maps and a floor plan, visit the listing here. Our listing details also crunch numbers for you, giving you better specifics of how you can easily stop paying rent and build equity depending on your down payment size.
Do Toronto Condominiums Have Glass Issues?
Since the several incidents involving glass from Toronto condominiumsfalling to the ground from the balconies above during the summer months, condominiums built using glass have been under more scrutiny than ever before.
The condo builder is at fault when it comes to faulty glass - not the glass itself.
A recent CBC article called many of Toronto’s glass condominiums “throw-away” buildings, because their glass windows are apparently destined to fail over the next few decades and will cost millions to replace or repair.
But a significant number of the comments on the story accuse CBC of fear-mongering and cherry-picking quotes from industry professionals to create a generally scary story that reflects poorly on condos that use glass in their construction.
The crisp, clean-looking beauty of glass condo towers appeals to many condominium buyers and owners – not to mention the spectacular views they can offer. But according to the CBC report, Toronto’s temperamental seasonal mood swings can result in the insulating argon gas between panes escaping, rendering them no longer energy efficient and even leaky.
But this response by glass industry representatives says that’s just not the case. In reality, the failures are not the fault of the glass but the fault of the building practices around the glass – cheap construction and cutting corners will cause any material to fail. The proper manufacturing of the glass will prevent any argon gas from escaping at all, and the windows will remain energy-efficient so long as they are built and installed properly and continue to be well-maintained throughout the life of the building.
Condo buyers need to ask the right questions when buying a condo in a primarily glass building, and hiring a real estate agent who knows the Toronto condo industry and is familiar with local developments and builders can help avoid less than desirable builders who are known for cutting corners – as well as help Toronto condo buyers find a building that is financially healthy and well-maintained, ensuring they enjoy their condo for years to come.
Have you encountered glass issues in your Toronto condo? Or have you not experienced any problems whatsoever? Let us know!
