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Archive for the ‘Apartment Issues’ Category

Multi-Residential Apartment Buildings Audit Program – Meeting

Posted in Apartment Issues, Building Maintenance, MLS Building Audit, MRAB, Municipal Licensing and Standards, Repairs and maintenance, tagged , , , , , on November 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The  City’s Licensing Committee will be discussing the City of Toronto MRAB (Multi-Residential Apartment Buildings) program at its meeting on Friday November 16th, 2012.

This meeting is an opportunity for tenants and tenant groups to participate in the discussion about the effectiveness of the property standards by-law and whether or not the by-law is properly enforced.  Tenants need know whether the current system works and if it has been meeting the regulations of the property standards by-law. Outstanding repairs and maintenance issues have a negative impact on the quality of life of tenants and also violate the property standards by-law. Is the property standards by-law being enforced in a way that ensures ‘proper repairs and maintenance’ in their buildings?  How is the MRAB program being monitored? Have there been changes to the MRAB program and have these changes been made public? Tenants need to know whether or not this MRAB program is working well and if property standards are being enforced.

Tenants can participate in the discussion to take place on Friday November 16th, 2012.

For more information on the meeting refer to this communique from Janet Davis (Beaches-East York Councillor):  Multi-Residential Apartment Buildings Audit Program

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NOTE – In an earlier post “MLS AUDITING PROGRAM FOR 2011 – Update” we  raised a number of concerns related to how MRAB conducted audits.  Refer to this link:   https://eastyorktenantsgroup.com/2011/04/04/upcoming-federal-election-2011/.

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Taylor Massey Tenant School

Posted in Activism, Apartment Issues, Community Event, Repairs and maintenance, Tenant School, tagged , , , on August 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »

UPDATE – Please note that the Federation of Metro Tenants Association (FMTA) has launched the “Connecting Communities Tenant School”. The purpose of the tenant school is for ’empowering tenants through education and information of their legal rights as tenants’.  The schools will be be held over a period of 2 years.

Check these links for more details:
www.torontotenants.org/news/fmta-launches-connecting-communities-tenant-school
http://www.torontotenants.org/news/connecting-communities-tenant-school-now-accepting-participants

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You are invited to participate in the upcoming Taylor Massey Tenant School.

This event will take place September 11- October 16, 2012 at 10 Gower Street, Toronto, ON

The purpose of this event is to provide training and valuable information to tenants on how to deal effectively with various rental housing issues.  You need to register to participate in the ‘tenant school’.

Please refer to this document for more details:  TaylorMassey_Tenant School

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MLS AUDITING PROGRAM FOR 2011 – Update

Posted in 2011 Rent Increase Guideline, Apartment Issues, Auditing programme, Building Maintenance, HST, Jim Hart, MLS Building Audit, MRAB, Municipal Licensing and Standards, Property standards violations, Repairs and maintenance, Vacancy Decontrol, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2011| 10 Comments »

For the current year and commencing January 2011, the Municipal Licencing and Standards department (MLS) has provided updated information on the resumption of the audit program in multi-residential apartment buildings (MRAB). MLS has included a list of buildings scheduled for auditing as well as specific items to be targeted in their audits. For example, the audits will include ‘common areas, mechanical systems and grounds of the building’ for property standard violations. Refer to this link for details: http://www.toronto.ca/licensing/mrab/audit_activity_by_ward.htm

According to the article “Inspectors to probe city’s 5,000 rental buildings” published in April 2010, Jim Hart (Executive Director of MLS) stated:  ” We’re actually going to get our own staff to go out there effectively with a checklist and do every single (rental) building in the city and kind of rate them,” and that “he’s determined to send out about 100 inspectors to give nearly 5,000 buildings a once-over, so his 12-member audit team can better focus its efforts on the buildings most in need of improvements”. Refer to this link for the full article: (more…)

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Energy conservation and retrofitting

Posted in Above Guideline increase, Apartment Issues, Capital Expenditures, Energy Conservation, Greening, Operating expenditures, Renovations, Repairs and maintenance, Smart meters, Tenant Association, tagged , , , , , , on May 30, 2010| 9 Comments »

In recent months there has been a noticeable increase of renovation and retrofitting activities in apartment buildings in the GTA. Most of these renovations are related to upgrades to promote energy conservation. Renovations include fixes to faulty plumbing and heating systems, installing smart sub-meters, and replacement of ageing balcony doors and windows for more energy efficient ones. While general repairs and renovations are long overdue in older buildings there are other newer buildings  undergoing (more…)

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AUDIT OF MULTI-RESIDENTIAL APARTMENT BUILDINGS….

Posted in Apartment Issues, Auditing programme, MRAB, Municipal Licensing and Standards, Ombudsman final report, Property standards violations, Repairs and maintenance, Tenant complaints, tagged , , , , , on January 31, 2010| 3 Comments »

(Check for update on the audit program here: MLS Auditing Program for 2011 )

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The first annual report released by the City of Toronto’s first Ombudsman contained a troubling statement about the “lack of effective communication between bureaucrats and public”. Check  here  to access the Ombudsman’s report.  This lack of communication identified in the report has clearly been a source of great frustration for the public. In particular, it is a serious impediment to resolving landlord violations of property standards in multi-residential apartment buildings (MRAB). Hence this (more…)

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SMART SUB-METERS . . .

Posted in Above Guideline increase, Affordability, Annual Guideline Increase, Apartment Issues, Capital Expenditures, Electricity, Energy Conservation, Environment, Greening, Hydro, Lease Agreement, Ontario Energy Board, Retrofit, Smart meters, Sub-meters, Tenancy Agreement, Utilities, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 29, 2009| 7 Comments »

 

The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) has issued a ‘Decision and Order’ that will allow landlords to install ‘smart sub-metering systems’ for individual rental units. Smart sub-meters’ are devices that can be installed in individual apartments to monitor a tenant’s use of energy thereby allowing individual billing.
(Refer to this link for more details:  http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-23859.pdf

The main reason behind this ‘Decision and Order’ is that landlords/ property owners have been installing ‘smart meters’ in residential and commercial complexes in the absence of regulations. Ostensibly the purpose of these ‘smart meters’ is to monitor the (more…)

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Safety and Security in Apartment buildings

Posted in Apartment Issues, Apartment Safety, Apartment Security, Burglary, Compensation, Door locks, Ranee Management, Robbery, Safety, Safety and Security, Security, Security Camera, Security guards, tagged , , , , , , , on July 30, 2009| 9 Comments »

Recently we were notified that on Tuesday July 28, 2009, several tenants at 165 Barrington Avenue (Ranee Management) were victimized by an obviously well-planned and executed burglary that occurred during the daytime hours.

The notification received from the concerned tenants indicated that “the criminal(s) stole items to make quick sales. Items stolen included personal items such as jewellery, heirlooms, laptop computers, digital cameras, (more…)

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WITHHOLDING RENT . . .

Posted in Apartment Issues, Building Maintenance, Compensation, Complaints, Complaints letter, Eviction, Landlord and Tenant Board, Last Month Rent (LMR), Legal Assistance, Problem Landlords, Repairs, Repairs and maintenance, T2, T6, Tenants boot camp, Withholding rent, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2009| 6 Comments »

(more…)

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