The mandatory Mask Bylaw expired on March 21, 2022 and amendments to Apartment Buildings Bylaw, which required apartment building owners and operators to implement COVID-nineteen measures in apartment buildings, expired on April viii, 2022. Read Toronto Public Health'due south guidance for residential buildings.

RentSafeTO works to ensure that owners and operators of apartment buildings encounter building maintenance standards through initiatives similar evaluations. Utilise this interactive map to wait up the evaluation results of buildings across Toronto.

RentSafeTO: Apartment Building Standards is a bylaw enforcement program that ensures apartment building owners and operators comply with building maintenance standards. The program applies to apartment buildings with 3 or more storeys and ten or more than units.

Owners/operators of apartment buildings are required to register and comply with the requirements nether the RentSafeTO program. Learn more near what building owners must practice.

Residents need to contact their landlord kickoff and submit service requests for bug such as plumbing issues, leaky ceilings, pests, low or no heat, or problems in the mutual areas of the edifice.

Landlords need to reply to urgent service requests, such equally no estrus or water, inside 24 hours. Non-urgent service requests need to be responded to within seven days. If yous get no action from your landlord and problems persist, you lot can contact 311 for the RentSafeTO team.

Landlords that do non comply with the bylaw requirements tin can face further enforcement activity.

Condo buildings, townhomes, or units in a individual dwelling (basement or main floor apartment) are not part of the RentSafeTO program. If you are renting an apartment in a building that is non part of the RentSafeTO program and experience a trouble, please talk to your landlord first and submit a service request. If you go no action from your landlord and problems persist, you lot can contact 311 to accept the Metropolis investigate.

Download the RentSafeTO: Flat Building Standards Program brochure for more information.

Read the 2021 RentSafeTO Year in Review  and Infographic to learn more than most the progression in the program since 2017, including key functioning data on building evaluations and audits, service requests, investigation and enforcement action.

Making a Service Request to Your Landlord

Service Request Forms

If you have issues with the condition of the apartment that you are renting (such as plumbing issues, no or depression heat, a broken window) or the common areas of your edifice, talk to your landlord and submit a service request in writing. Use this service asking form as a guide: English French

Record Keeping

Make service requests in writing and go on a copy of your requests. Your landlord must rail these service requests and proceed copies from the past 24 months. You can asking to see your records. Learn more about landlord tape-keeping requirements.

Response from Landlord

Your landlord needs to respond to urgent service requests within 24 hours. Service requests are urgent if they are related to vital services, such as:

  • hydro (electricity)
  • gas
  • oestrus
  • water
  • alienation of building security
  • bug with the outside of the edifice

When the service request is not urgent, your landlord needs to reply within vii days.  Allow your landlord reasonable time to make the repairs.

If you lot get no activeness from your landlord and problems persist, contact 311 for the RentSafeTO team. You can call 311 or email 311@toronto.ca to submit a complaint (service request) to the Urban center.

Submitting a Complaint (Service Request) to the City

Submit a Complaint (Service Asking)

If you become no action from your landlord and problems persist, contact 311 for the RentSafeTO team. Y'all tin can call 311 or email 311@toronto.ca to submit a complaint (service request) to the Metropolis.

Check the Status of Your Complaint (Service Request)

If you submit a complaint (service request) to the City through 311, you can check the status using the reference number provided to you. Enter your reference number in the Status Tracking box at the bottom of the toronto.ca and click "Become."

You tin as well check the history of bylaw violations at an address.

What to Wait after Submitting a Complaint (Service Request)

In one case you lot submit a complaint (service request) through 311, a bylaw enforcement officer volition reach out to you to gather more than information near your complaint.

If your complaint is urgent and related to vital services, Urban center staff will respond within 24 hours. If your complaint is well-nigh a non-urgent issue then the team will reply within five days.

The bylaw enforcement officer may asking photos and a copy of the service request submitted to the building possessor or operator. Should you lot neglect to reply to the officeholder inside a reasonable amount of fourth dimension, the file will be airtight.

Escalate Your Complaint (Service Request)

Once you have submitted a complaint (service asking) to the City, you can escalate information technology if:

  • you made an urgent complaint and did non receive a response from a bylaw enforcement officeholder  within 24 hours
  • you lot made a not-urgent complaint and did not receive a response from a bylaw enforcement officeholder within 5 days

You can escalate your complaint by contacting 311. You volition and so be provided with the name and contact number of the Supervisor responding to your complaint.

How the City Conducts an Investigation

One time a bylaw enforcement officer has spoken to you, they will conduct an investigation. This includes:

  • reviewing the information you provided, as well as any other relevant property information and history
  • reviewing the applicable bylaws to make up one's mind what evidence needs to exist gathered
  • contacting the belongings owner to advise of the complaint and decide what action has or will be taken to resolve the outcome, along with the timelines
  • conducting a site visit, if required

This process will be documented, and staff may contact you throughout the investigation with follow up questions.

Once the bylaw enforcement officer has reviewed the evidence, they will determine what enforcement action, if any, is required.

If a violation is not observed or the landlord resolves the upshot inside a reasonable timeframe, the service asking will be airtight.

If the landlord does non resolve the result within a reasonable amount of fourth dimension, the City tin can upshot an Social club or Find, which volition include a engagement past which the result must be brought into compliance with the City's bylaw(s). You volition be notified if the Urban center bug an Order or Notice.

The Urban center will follow upward with you to ensure the work is completed. If information technology is not, the City may choose to take boosted enforcement actions. In health and life safety circumstances, the Urban center tin can as well have a contractor consummate any necessary piece of work and place the costs on the edifice's property taxes. This is known as remedial work.

When Remedial Work Is Carried Out

The Metropolis conducts remedial work as the last resort and if there is a health and life prophylactic business. If remedial piece of work is required the following deportment are taken:

  • The City determines if there is an existing contract for the necessary remediate piece of work or if a new contract needs to be fix in place. If a new contract is required, a request for quote is issued for a contract to be issued
  • The necessary arrangements are made with the Contractors and other staff (if needed) to ensure the necessary equipment and materials needed to complete the work as quickly as possible
  • Tenants will be notified about the piece of work, how it volition bear on them and when the remedial work volition be conducted
  • On the day of the remedial work, the bylaw enforcement officer remains at the location while the work is carried out to document the piece of work that is completed
  • All costs for the remedial work will exist placed on the building's property taxes

RentSafeTO Multilingual Brochure

Vital Services (i.e. electricity, heat, water)

Vital services in your edifice include hydro (electricity), gas, heat, hot or cold water, breach of edifice security or problems with the outside of the edifice.

  • Your landlord cannot discontinue vital services for any reason, fifty-fifty if you haven't paid your hire
  • Landlords must address requests about vital services within 24 hours of receiving the service requests
  • If yous get no activity from your landlord and issues persist, contact 311 for the RentSafeTO team
  • If your unit of measurement is in a condo building where units are individually owned,  bug with vital services should be addressed by the owner of the unit
  • Landlords are required to maintain a contact listing of tenants who voluntarily self-identify equally needing aid during an emergency or temporary shut down of vital services

Vital Service Disruption Plan

A vital service disruption is an upshot where whatsoever vital service is disrupted.

Landlords are required to develop and maintain a Vital Service Disruption Plan.

Failure to develop, maintain and implement a Vital Service Disruption Plan will be an offence under the Flat Buildings bylaw.

Acquire more than about landlord responsibilities during a vital service disruption.

Indoor Temperature and Air Conditioning

Indoor Temperature

Apartments should be a minimum air temperature of 21 degrees Celsius from September 15 – June ane. Learn more about the heat bylaw.

Heat in the common areas of  the building, such as the lobby and hallways, are non regulated past the RentSafeTO team.

In that location are time periods during September 15 to October 15 and May ane to June ane, when the weather tin be a fleck warmer. This may cause the temperature indoors to exist above 21 degrees Celsius, resulting in uncomfortable living weather for tenants.

If the weather outside means that the edifice is 21 degrees Celsius without heat, landlords tin plow the rut downward or off.

Ac

If your edifice has air conditioning provided by your landlord, the Property Standards bylaw requires that the ac is turned on betwixt June two and September xiv. But, if it is hot outside, your landlord tin can turn it on before equally long as the indoor temperature does not go below 21 Celsius.

Window Air Workout

City of Toronto bylaws practice non prohibit window air conditioning units in apartment buildings.

If the Metropolis determines that a window air-conditioning unit of measurement may be unsafe, it may require your landlord to show that a qualified tradesperson has installed, or confirmed proper installation and maintenance of, the window air workout unit.

In that location are no City bylaw provisions requiring this proof from tenants or allowing landlords to require this proof from tenants. However, the terms of the charter agreement betwixt the landlord (apartment building owner) and y'all (tenant) may include requirements concerning air conditioning in the rental unit. As a tenant, y'all may desire to seek legal communication and information on how the Residential Tenancies Act applies.

Download the ofttimes asked questions  on window air conditioning in flat buildings.

Pests

All landlords are responsible for maintaining a unit and making certain it is free of pests, such as ants, cockroaches, bedbugs, spiders, mice and rats.

Landlord Responsibilities with Pests

Once your landlord is aware of pests at the property, they need to:

  • take measures to eliminate pests and preclude their spread into other portions of the property
  • audit the common areas of the property at least once every xxx days, and any expanse of the belongings within 72 hours of receiving any data most pests
  • hire the services of a professional pest command company licensed by the Ministry of Surroundings, if required
  • keep pest management records and post them on tenant notification boards
  • terminate renting any units with pests to new tenants

Landlords are required to also mail the following on the tenant notification board: pest management plans including documentation of pest control services and schedule, service standards and product data related to pest command activeness.

Landlords will work with Toronto Public Health to respond to bed bug infestation complaints, where information technology may be a health hazard.

If you have concerns about pests, speak to your landlord or property manager and submit a service request. If you get no action from your landlord and bug persist, you can contact 311 for the RentSafeTO team.

What Tenants Can Do Nigh Pests

While pest direction is the landlord's responsibility, the following tips tin help prevent pest infestations in your unit:

  • keep your unit gratis of clutter
  • make clean kitchens and bathrooms regularly
  • keep kitchen countertops clean and gratis of crumbs
  • vacuum regularly under rugs and beneath furniture
  • rinse containers before putting them in the garbage or in recycling bins
  • empty kitchen garbage containers oftentimes
  • avoid picking up mattresses and other furniture from sidewalks or the trash
  • shop foods (grains, legumes, saccharide) in sealed plastic or glass containers in kitchens
  • later on travelling, check luggage advisedly for spread of pests
  • learn how to prevent, identify and care for bed bugs in your home

You lot must permit your landlord to treat your unit for pests. Landlords must notify you ahead of time nearly what is required to prepare the unit for handling, such as emptying cabinets, removing furniture from walls, etc.

Tenant Notification Boards

In society to proceed tenants up-to-date, a notification board must be posted in a central location in the building. Electronic notification boards are allowed as long every bit all required information tin can exist displayed and read easily past tenants. Hard copies of the required information must be fabricated available to tenants and prospective tenants upon request. Learn about the data that must be posted on the tenant notification board.

If you do not see this board in your building, or do non accept admission to an electronic version, contact 311 for the RentSafeTO team.

Window Safety Devices

close-up of a window safety device on an apartment window overlooking trees
Window safety device on an apartment window.

For your protection, Urban center bylaws require window safe devices on rental flat windows that:

  • do not pb to a balcony
  • are more than two metres above the ground and less than 1.5 metres from the unit of measurement floor, and
  • are a common window where the lower sill is less than one metre (3.28 feet) above the floor (in this case the guard must comply with the Ontario Building Code)

Window rubber devices must foreclose whatsoever part of the window from opening more than 10 centimetres, which is the corporeality of space a kid can crawl through.

You may be fined if you remove window safety devices.

Common Elements

Your landlord is required to:

  • inspect all common areas daily for cleanliness and go along cleaning plans and records that prove how often they will clean a building. Y'all can request to see these plans at any time
  • inspect the common areas of the belongings for pests at least once every 30 days
  • mail service in at least ane common area of the apartment building information on waste product, including what items become into recycling, light-green bins and garbage bins, as well as the location of the bins

Electrical and Building Maintenance

Capital Plan

Your landlord is responsible for maintaining a majuscule program to include a five yr forecast of major edifice repairs that lists when each detail is expected to be replaced or updated. Examples of capital elements include: roof, elevators, windows, flooring and wall finishes, handrails, and mechanical systems.

You tin request a copy of this plan at any time. Your landlord must provide this inside 60 days of your request.

Electrical Maintenance Requirements

Flat building owners and operators are required to:

  • develop an electrical maintenance plan with a licensed Electrical Contractor and maintain whatever information and records to show that they have complied with the plan
  • maintain a list of tenants who voluntarily self-identify as requiring assistance during evacuations or temporary close downward of vital services, such as hydro (electricity), heat or water

The City is as well conducting proactive inspections of buildings that may be at college risk of electrical malfunction. Larn more almost the inspections, including those identified for the first round of inspections.

Evaluation and Audits

Edifice Evaluations

The RentSafeTO team will behave inspections at every apartment building at least once every three years. Learn more about the edifice evaluation procedure and the different areas that are inspected during a building evaluation.

Your building owner/operator will be provided with a copy of the property'southward edifice evaluation results, which will include the evaluation score.

Your landlord is required to share the score and details of each evaluation with you and any prospective tenant. They are as well required to postal service the most recent edifice evaluation on the tenant notification board.

The overall building evaluation score will determine if a full building audit is required.

Audits

If your building fails its evaluation by scoring 50 per cent or less, the RentSafeTO team will acquit a edifice inspect. During an audit, all the common areas of the building are inspected, including the underground garage also every bit the building's exterior grounds. Learn more near the edifice audit process.

Your landlord is required to post a notice on the tenant notification board informing y'all of the upcoming audit, 30 days earlier its scheduled date.

During the audit the RentSafeTO team will be on-site in the building lobby or in front of the building to take complaints (service requests) about issues in your unit. These complaints will then be given to your landlord and then that they tin can respond and gear up the issues. The RentSafeTO team will follow-upwards on your complaints submitted during the audit and take advisable activeness, if required.

Bank check Your Building Evaluation Results Online

The City has created an interactive webpage to view and print the evaluation results for apartment buildings registered with RentSafeTO.

The post-obit open source datasets tin as well be found on Open Data:

  • building information for properties registered with RentSafeTO
  • building evaluation data
  • investigation activity

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