Property maintenance across the City of Toronto

A tower of three or more storeys and ten or more rental units is a RentSafeTO building, evaluated and audited by the City against its plans and service request process. A rooming house is a multi-tenant house. A unit being emptied for a renovation needs a renovation licence. A rented condo suite or a duplex needs neither of the first two, and still falls under the City's property standards. We ask which one applies before a trade is booked, because it decides the paperwork that goes with the job. The RentSafeTO guide covers the tower rules in detail.

A no heat call between October 1 and May 15 is a Chapter 497 matter at 21 C. From June 1 the question flips to the air conditioning where it is installed, or to a cooled amenity space in a RentSafeTO building without it. Our heat and cooling checker gives the date rule for any day of the year, and heating and cooling covers the furnace, boiler and fan coil work.

Toronto Water owns the pipe to the property line. A backup that starts on the private side goes to a licensed drain contractor, with a camera clip on the file so the owner can see where it failed. The flooding subsidy can pay for the backwater valve and sump pump that follow. See basement flooding in a Toronto rental.

Scarborough was its own city until January 1, 1998 and is now the eastern part of Toronto, under every by-law on this page. About 460 RentSafeTO buildings sit in its six wards, and 13 of the City's basement flooding study areas follow its creeks. Property maintenance in Scarborough.

North York was also its own city until 1998. The same Toronto by-laws apply, from the towers along Yonge Street to the 3 to 6 storey rental buildings that make up most of its registered apartment stock. Property maintenance in North York.

Plumbing is done by licensed plumbers and drain work by licensed drain contractors. Gas work is done by TSSA registered contractors. We only use ECRA/ESA-Licensed Electrical Contractors. Pest control is done by licensed exterminators.

To send a Toronto job, request work.

48 percent of Toronto households rented their home in the 2021 Census, 557,975 of 1,160,890, and 30 percent of occupied dwellings were condominiums (City of Toronto, 2021 Census backgrounder). The city itself was formed on January 1, 1998 from six municipalities: the old City of Toronto, Etobicoke, Scarborough, North York, York and East York (City of Toronto Archives). A 1960s tower in Scarborough and a new condo on the waterfront sit under the same by-laws and need very different trades.