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Common Tenant Problems - Maintenance

This section is for renters to discuss issues regarding Maintenance (or, your Landlord Not Maintenaning your Apartment).

In addition to this forum there are some terrific information resources available on this topic:

• From the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations, Guide to Renovations, What a Tenant Needs to Know

• From Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO), Maintenance and repairs.

• From Steps to Justice, Who is responsible for repairs and maintenance?, and also, Can the Landlord and Tenant Board help me if my landlord doesn't do repairs?

• The RentSafeTO program was created by a City of Toronto bylaw (Municipal Code Chapter 354), and it contains provisions that require landlords to maintain their buildings and to respond to renters' concerns regarding maintenance problems.  Complaints regarding landlords contravening the RentSafeTO bylaw can be reported to the City of Toronto by calling 311.


Author Topic: Landlord is Ignoring Me  (Read 2894 times)

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samantha

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Landlord is Ignoring Me
« on: September 11, 2021, 12:47:49 pm »
I've got water damage on my bedroom ceiling, probably because of a leak in the roof.

I've complained to my landlord but he hasn't doing anything.

What can I do?

anonymoustenant

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Re: Landlord is Ignoring Me
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2021, 12:11:45 pm »

You should consider calling the City of Toronto to file a complaint with them.  There are two main department that might be helpful – Toronto Public Health, and “Rent Safe TO”.

Public Health can send a health inspector to view the status of your apartment, and their inspector has the authority to order your landlord to do things, so the complaint to make with them is that your apartment is unhealthy (dusty, poorly maintained, do you have any holes in your walls?).

RentSafeTO also has inspectors, and they can issue orders and fines to Akelius, and they enforce some rights that you may not know that you have.  In particular, check-out this webpage:

   https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/housing-shelter/rental-housing-tenant-information/rental-housing-standards/apartment-building-standards/rentsafeto-for-tenants/

On that webpage, click on the section: “Making a Service Request to Your Landlord”, which explains that landlords have to respond to urgent maintenance requests within 24 hours, and all other maintenance requests within 7 days.  (Unfortunately, lots of tenants find that RentSafeTO is a bit of a “black hole” with respect to tenant complaints – they are frequently ignored, so you might have to pester them to do their job and help you.  But if you have the time then it can be worth it.)

Both Toronto Public Health and RentSafeTO can be reached by telephoning “311” or e-mailing: 311@toronto.ca


Richard

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Re: Landlord is Ignoring Me
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2021, 12:12:52 pm »
I've complained to my landlord but he hasn't doing anything.
What can I do?


You could reach out to your City Councillor and MPP.  If you don’t already know who your Councillor and MPP are then google – start by figuring-out which riding you are in.  All Councillors and MPPs have webpages and public e-mail addresses – send them an e-mail stating that you are having trouble with your landlord (so they know what’s going on), and then CC them on e-mails that you send to your landlord so they can see that the politicians have been involved.

(I have seen many others approach their politicians, and I myself have also done this myself, and my opinion is that the “quality” of our elected officials varies widely – some are great, and some don’t care about you once they have your vote.  Regardless, this CCing them on the e-mail isn’t because the politician will necessarily do anything very helpful, but the landlord doesn’t want to attract negativity in front of the politicians, so having the politicians on the e-mail you send will in itself add leverage in support of your efforts.)


 

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