People who are interested in living in or investing in DT condos are often asking which building do, and which once don’t allow short term rentals. The truth is the majority of the condos don’t permit short term rentals and it is stated in their bylaws, of the buildings who are not allowing them there are some who enforce it strictly, and others that don’t. City of Toronto at the end of 2019 implemented new rules and regulations for short term rentals, there are certain... [read more]

A bedroom, as most of us would imagine, is a place where one would ordinarily sleep, will have a door which can be shut so one can sleep in peace and quiet, will have a window for a daylight, and be large enough to have a bed. Ontario Building Code describes this in great detail, below are few excerpts: 9.5.7.1. Areas of Bedrooms (1) Except as provided in Articles 9.5.7.2. and 9.5.7.3., bedrooms in dwelling units shall have an area not less than 7 m² where built-in cabinets are not... [read more]

  Finding a rental property in today’s market of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) can be challenging. The rental market is very HOT! Vacancy rates are at all time low (around 1%) meaning that landlords (property owners) have their pick of who they want to rent to (and for what price). The housing market affects the rental rates. The more landlords pay for the property, the higher their mortgage, the higher the rent. And as it becomes harder to buy a home, with low market... [read more]

The below write up concentrates on Ontario rules but some elements and principals can be applied anywhere. What is a Status Certificate. Status certificate is a document that provides essential information regarding the financial status of the unit and the condo corporation. What’s included in the Status Certificate. Financial statements, budgets, special assessments, liens, arrears, lawsuits, condo declaration, by-laws, reserve fund study, insurance policy and claims,... [read more]

I have already written about condo project cancellations and there have been a number of them in the last few years. Every time a unit is purchased a deposit is made, are these funds safe? There are number of safeguards in place to protect the buyers and their deposits. Tarion offers condo deposit protection up to $20,000, but as we know most deposits would exceed this amount by a large margin. The developer of the new condominium project must be Tarion registered and must enter into... [read more]