Builder floor plan doesn't match my actual condo - what now?
TLDR: Measured our new 1+den condo room by room. Every comparable room is smaller than the floor plan dimensions. The den is 14 inches shorter than advertised. Total shortfall across comparable rooms is 18.8 sq ft (3.36%), well over Tarion's 2% acceptable variance. We're proceeding with a Tarion warranty claim, hiring a licensed surveyor for official measurements, and retaining a real estate litigation lawyer. Looking to hear from anyone who's been through something similar or has advice on how to approach this.
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We recently took possession of a 1-bed + den in a new build in Toronto. The unit was marketed at 534 sq ft interior, 25 sq ft balcony, 559 total.
After moving in, something felt off about the den. Grabbed a tape measure and went room by room. Every single comparable room came in smaller than what's on the floor plan. The den is the worst - 14 inches shorter in width than what they sold us.
Here's what we found:
We lost 14\" of width in the den alone!
That's a 3.36% shortfall relative to the 559 sq ft and 3.52% shortfall relative to the 534 sq ft interior, which is well above the 2% variance that Tarion considers reasonable under Builder Bulletin 22.
I understand that builders measure from exterior wall faces and midpoints between units, so the marketed 534 sq ft was never going to match measuring room interiors. I'm not naive about that. But the floor plan has specific room dimensions printed on it, and those dimensions are materially wrong. A den that's over a foot shorter than advertised is a different room than what we were sold.
We're on a lower floor, so I'm sure the builder will try to chalk it up to thicker structural members. But thicker columns don't remove 14 inches from one dimension of one room. That's not how structural engineering works.
Also, in our attempts to find a renter for the unit, several of them came back and said the den is too small (which was actually what prompted us to measure it).
We're moving forward with a Tarion claim and are in the process of hiring a licensed Ontario Land Surveyor to do a proper measurement of the floor plan using the Bulletin 22 method so we have an apples-to-apples comparison. We're also retaining a real estate litigation lawyer to advise on next steps. A few other unit holders with the same floor plan will also be measuring their units.
My questions for the community:
- Has anyone in a newer Toronto build measured their unit and found similar discrepancies between the floor plan and reality?
- Has anyone successfully filed a Tarion claim over square footage? How did it go?
- Any recommendations for a real estate litigation lawyer experienced with Tarion disputes in the GTA?
- For anyone in a similar situation, did you find the discrepancy was consistent across floors, or only on lower levels?
At Toronto condo prices per square foot, ~19 sq is thousands of dollars. We paid for a unit of a certain size. We didn't get it.
Appreciate any advice or shared experiences.