r/TorontoRenting

Hey all!

I am moving to Toronto for the first time and wanted to get some advice on areas to check out.

It's me (30F) and my wife (32F) and our 2 cats. We ideally would be looking for a 1b+den since we both work from home. Having that extra den space can be a game-changer. I'm the main chef of the family, and a renovated kitchen is a must. Because of the cats, French/Juliet balconies do nothing for us. The cats are proven flight risks and cannot be trusted, so if there's a balcony, it must be a proper balcony with a door that closes behind me so the cats don't get out on the balcony.

We don't stay out late (in pajamas usually by 9pm), enjoy good restaurants, grocery stores, and cafes to work from. We play tennis/padel. We will not have a car.

I was looking at The Roe by Minto in Midtown, but since it seems so far away from "the big towers downtown," I am hesitant. I want definitely to live someplace close to the metro and with nice cafes in walking distance. My wife is an introvert and can be a homebody, but she can be convinced to go on adventures with me if the adventures are nearby (which is why it's important there be cool daytime activities nearby within walking distance).

What's the downtown vs midtown convo? If one, is there an area to look at or avoid? Any rental buildings in particular anyone suggest?

Thanks in advance <3

I know that rent is coming down, but what would be a feasible deal to get? I'm planning on signing a 1 year lease starting from July. I also do not require a parking spot.

Hoping to get some advice because I’m extremely scared about how much this is going to cost. I’m currently unemployed so this will be a big financial hit.

What happened was that I accidentally knocked over a pretty full bucket of water in the kitchen and of course the water ended up on the floor and also inside the cabinet next to it. I cleaned it up immediately and just as I was finishing up the management office person knocked on my door asking if I had a leak, because water apparently had leaked to the ceiling of the downstairs unit. After they left I returned to my room only to find that water had seeped there as well, so I cleaned that up again only to find that some of the laminate flooring had started to warp already. I did my best to dry everything and ran a fan near the area to promote air circulation as well, but when I woke up today to check again the warping was still as is.

I notified my landlord and asked my roommate about our insurance policy, as when I moved in she told me she would buy insurance for the both of us, and I just believed her. Turns out the policy only has her name on it so I’m not actually insured, so this puts me in a very vulnerable position where I might have to pay out of pocket for both a flooring replacement as well as the damage to the ceiling downstairs.

My roommate did mention that there was a known leak that the landlord told her about almost two years ago that was in the cabinet that I spilled water into, and that might have contributed to the whole matter. The landlord had told them that they would fix it but didn’t really do anything about it for the past two years. I moved in only a year ago so this was also the first time I had heard of the issue. She said she would try talking to the insurance company first and see if it’s possible to make a claim but I have my doubts.

The landlord also came today to inspect the unit themselves and told us that they think the whole bedroom will need a floor replacement. Half of the room actually should be unaffected so I was wondering if anyone could tell me if it would be possible to only replace half of the room? Also, would anyone be able to estimate how much it would cost if I had to pay for the whole flooring replacement? The size of the room is around 91.5 square feet but there’s a 11.68 square feet built in closet that doesn’t look to be affected at all. Would also appreciate if anyone could recommend some trustworthy places that could do a quote so I can get an estimate of how much it might actually cost, I’m in the North York area.

For the ceiling downstairs I don’t have any information about what the damage caused was yet other than there was a leak in the ceiling and the owner downstairs is very unhappy because they are trying to sell the unit. I have no idea what will happen next and I’m actually moving out next month as well. Please let me know if anyone has had any similar experiences to this or if there’s any resources that I should know of for situations like this. Thank you in advance to anyone who replies.

[EDIT/UPDATE] There’s a lot of people who seem to be thinking my roommate was leading me on and is throwing me under the bus, I just want to clarify that it was an honest mistake where she thought the policy was for the whole unit i.e. covering both me and her, and also the landlord had no problem with it when she sent the policy to them. I am at fault as well for not checking the policy myself. My roommate has been doing her best to help throughout this process, and I don’t want or expect her to lie about the situation to make an insurance claim. The insurance company has already heard about the incident as it is already, and we are going to handle this together to the best of our abilities. She’s handling the majority of communications with both the landlord and the insurance company, and even had to endure the landlord yelling at her on the phone when she called them to talk about the insurance issue. I would like to kindly ask all commenters to refrain from criticising my roommate as we are still on good terms and I truly appreciate all that she’s done, especially when she was pulled into this suddenly and it wasn’t her fault.

Also, this post is getting a lot more attention than I expected, which is kind of scary actually, but it’s getting hard to reply to everyone. Updates for now would be that the landlord has now filed a claim to their insurance, and I will be seeking advice from a legal clinic nearby. We still haven’t heard back from our insurance company, and yesterday we had a meeting with the management office who told us that they would be billing us, the tenants, directly instead of billing the landlord for the repair costs of the downstairs unit. We are still in the early stages of this process I think, so there’s still a lot of uncertainty, but hopefully we can work this out. Thank you again to those who leave a comment and we’ll see what happens next.

The glass stove top shattered on my oven (not debating liability / fault for that).

I notified the super, and they sent a tech to “diagnose” (i.e., determine if it seemed like reasonable wear and tear).

It’s come back that I’m on the hook for it (fine I get it). But the options presented were either the cost of repair (which is allegedly more than the price of a brand new stove) or I reimburse their purchase of a brand new stove. I can’t find a clause or anything specific in my googling that determines the extent of my financial liability. I would imagine I owe the cost of the broken stove at depreciated face value, not the cost of a brand new appliance.

Is there anywhere I can find this information, or has anyone dealt with a similar issue?

I’m in Ontario and had a standard lease agreement with my landlord. After the fixed term ended, the tenancy continued month-to-month. I did not share kitchen or bathroom with the landlord.

My advance/last month deposit was $2200 and after moving out I only received $1100 back. My landlord is still holding around $1100.

I vacated on Feb 28. For around 2.5 months after moving out, he kept saying he would return the remaining money. Only later did he start giving different reasons for deductions.

The lease says utilities are landlord responsibility. There is no written clause about me paying utilities above $100. Now he is claiming there was a verbal understanding from the beginning that I had to pay overages above $100, even though:

- no monthly overages were ever billed to me,
- no pending balances were discussed during the tenancy,
- and this was only raised after I moved out.

Other points:

- Lease mentions rent as $2250, but we mutually agreed to $2200 and I paid that amount consistently for ~1.5 years without issue.
- I informed them in November that I may move out in January. They asked me to stay longer because of holidays and difficulty finding tenants.
- They involved a realtor and we mutually coordinated the move-out timeline based on finding a replacement tenant.
- Move-out dates kept changing based on their tenant search and my travel plans.
- They are now also bringing up additional reasons for deductions that were never previously discussed.

Do I realistically have grounds to challenge this through the LTB or Small Claims Court? Or would this likely be considered too informal/verbal to succeed?

Hello y’all,

I’m actively looking for a studio apartment around Midtown or North York. My budget is between $1,500–$1,700, ideally with utilities included (or maybe just hydro extra). I’m also looking for a place with parking included or affordable parking options nearby.
I checked out the O’Shanter options, but it seems like they’re no longer available. I’d actually prefer an older building since I value space more than amenities.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi again, I posted a few days earlier about how to exit my recent 1-year lease term due to emerging patterns of harassment from the LL and misrepresented living conditions (sharing kitchen/bathroom with LL).

I’ve since left the unit with my possessions to stay with friends, and sent the LL my notice requesting early termination of the lease. The LL said they also wanted me out, and has requested that I find a subletter (in this case I would prefer to reassign the lease, for the LL’s requested 1-year term. My lease started May 1, 2026).

I understand that if I do not find a replacement, I am at risk of continuing to owe the rent - I’m worried that the LL would be incredibly picky and rude towards potential candidates, making the sublet/reassignment process difficult (apparently this is how they behaved with previous outgoing tenants who were searching for subletters, turning down just about everybody).

Would like advice on whether I could negotiate to somehow not be responsible for finding a replacement. What am I obligated to do regarding the duty to mitigate, and similarly what are the LL’s responsibilities to minimize losses?

Does anyone have experience with this? Also, what should I make sure to do when exiting to make sure I am no longer contractually and financially tied to this place (e.g., having LL and I sign a lease termination agreement?)

Thank you in advance for your help.

I’m in Ontario and had a standard lease agreement with my landlord. After the fixed term ended, the tenancy continued month-to-month. I did not share kitchen or bathroom with the landlord.

My advance/last month deposit was $2200 and after moving out I only received $1100 back. My landlord is still holding around $1100.

I vacated on Feb 28. For around 2.5 months after moving out, he kept saying he would return the remaining money. Only later did he start giving different reasons for deductions.

The lease says utilities are landlord responsibility. There is no written clause about me paying utilities above $100. Now he is claiming there was a verbal understanding from the beginning that I had to pay overages above $100, even though:

- no monthly overages were ever billed to me,
- no pending balances were discussed during the tenancy,
- and this was only raised after I moved out.

Other points:

- Lease mentions rent as $2250, but we mutually agreed to $2200 and I paid that amount consistently for ~1.5 years without issue.
- I informed them in November that I may move out in January. They asked me to stay longer because of holidays and difficulty finding tenants.
- They involved a realtor and we mutually coordinated the move-out timeline based on finding a replacement tenant.
- Move-out dates kept changing based on their tenant search and my travel plans.
- They are now also bringing up additional reasons for deductions that were never previously discussed.

Do I realistically have grounds to challenge this through the LTB or Small Claims Court? Or would this likely be considered too informal/verbal to succeed?

Hi all! I might be relocating to North York (near North York General Hospital) and I know close to nothing about the area. I’m looking to rent and be close enough to walk or take a short commute on public transit to the hospital area.

My partner is also commuting west to Mississauga and I’m trying to make their life as easy as possible too.

Any recommendations for condos, neighborhoods, or general areas? What’s it like? All insight is appreciated!!

Hopefully this isthe right sub to ask, but as the title says I am looking to move out of parent's home for the firs time ever but literally have no idea and I'd love help directly from ppl in Toronto and with up to date advice rather than articles/info from years ago.

I apologize if this isn't the right place to ask, please let me know where to ask instead!

My biggest questions are:

1. What are my best options for ~4-6 months, are the options even good?
   1. Do landlords charge a higher rate for shorter leases?
      1. Would a sublet be better for this?
2. Where are good places to look for rentals?
   1. And also, good places to look for roommates?
3. I have basic furniture I can take and reassemble at a new place, is it worth it to still find already furnished places?
4. What are red flags to look for in landlords, apartments, and roommates?

If it helps the answers, I'm a 23yo male and I got my bachelor's in the city hence never moving out. Ideally looking for something central-ish and south of St. Clair. Budget hopefully isn't needed to answer my questions, just overall help; I understand it can be pricier to stay more central and south.

Thank you for any help!

I’ve been living in a condo for the past 5 years. The landlord is selling to a new buyer and wants me to vacate although I have an active lease for another 6 months. They’re offering 3 months rent as compensation but i only have a month to evacuate so I was considering asking for 5 months. What’s reasonable here?

Looking into some of their listings through facebook marketplace seemed too good to be true, spoke to the realtors affiliated with them and it seemed legit, but looking through reddit its a bunch of people complaining about it. Want to know general opinion abt it.

Hi all, as the title states. I rent an apartment in a triplex which has a shared driveway for parking at the back of the house. I gave the landlord a heads up that I am selling a couch, and buyer will be parked for 15mins at the start of the driveway, while we load the couch.

She is saying we can not use the driveway, as it may damage her property. She is now threatening eviction. I think this is overblow dramatically, but does she have any stance? Lease does not mention anything about the driveway, but does include parking.

Edit: Lease mentions that tenant must not obstruct driveway or common areas. Sure, but I would not call this event an obstruction, we were all present and could have moved the car in a seconds notice.

Edit 2: She gave me an N5. 2 hours after my buyer left. Car was parked for a total of 10 minutes.

We have been having the same issues for years. The hot water temp is very inconsistent and often below 43c. I am hearing rumors this is purposely done by the building automation to save money. Id like to know if anyone else is having the same experience at other Starlight owned buildings.

Hi are there any good resources to finding apartment buildings with vacancies? It seems all the sites I try (Zumper, padmapper, etc) mix condos in with apartments, and I have an abysmal credit score, not good enough for a smaller landlord to consider me.

Looking to move to Toronto in late July (my current lease in London ends Aug 1st) and could really use some tips/best practices to find a good 1 bedroom apartment to rent, budget is $2000/mth including parking.

Im looking for someone interested in jointly renting a place and splitting the year. I would stay from June to November, and you would take over from December to May.

I thought this might work well for someone who only needs a place for part of the year, while also making rent more manageable for both of us. I’m open to discussing location, budget, and lease options together.

If a married couple is applying for an apartment where one partner's primary income is from dividends and the other's is from self-employment, how do landlords typically view this? What kind of proof do they usually look for? Both incomes together cover rent and more.

Me and me partner looked at a new apartment recently and the woman managing the property asked us for a non refundable $50 to do an eviction history check or something. Never heard of that before, is this something normal?

She told us that it is 50 per person,to be paid in cash, non refundable if rejected, but that the landlord will refund half if we're accepted (50 if both of us paid, 25 if only one person paid).

We paid 50 because we really liked the place. But we got rejected because the housing market here is brutal. My partner has really good credit and I have decent credit, we both have enough funds for a unit together, but seems it's not enough at the moment.

Is this legal? Or is there something we can do if we're rejected? I thought if we're rejected she would atleast give us the reason since we paid, but she just sent a message saying so and ghosted our calls after.

Assuming it's the eviction check, we've never been evicted in 3 years we've been here.

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EDIT: Thank you everyone for replying. I guess we should've been more careful. It sucks but it is what it is I guess. For anyone in the future, it's a Second floor, 2BR rental unit in a building in 52 Aldwych Ave, near Pape subway station.

It's unfortunate, but we need to move to a new place by June 1 and I guess we just got desperate.

I have a viewing this week and interested to know more about these buildings since it fits my budget. Anyone ever rent here? If so, what was your experience?