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Archive for the ‘Building Maintenance’ 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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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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Smart Sub-meters . . . Getting It Right!

Posted in Above Guideline increase, Building Maintenance, Capital Expenditures, Conservation, Electricity, Energy Conservation, Environment, Greening, Hydro, Infrastructure, Lease Agreement, Politics, Retrofit, Smart meters, Sub-meters, Utilities, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 8, 2009| 3 Comments »

By I. Aagaard, Guest Contributor

A recent article (Smart sub-meters) on the EYTG web site made references to an issue that’s been popping up recently:  Smart Sub-Meters in apartment buildings.

 I agree fundamentally with the notion of this “Pay Per Use” way of holding each of us responsible for our consumption of non-renewable resources, such as electricity. (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 »

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SMOKE FREE HOUSING . . .

Posted in Building Code, Building Maintenance, Capital Expenditures, City of Toronto, Health Concerns, Problem Landlords, Ranee Management, Residential Tenancies Act, Second-hand smoke, Smoke free housing, T2, T6, Tenancy Agreement, Tenants boot camp, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 21, 2009| 2 Comments »

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390 Dawes Road: No Heat Despite Very Cold Weather

Posted in Apartment Issues, Building Maintenance, Heating issues, Landlord Licensing and Standards, METCAP, Utilities, tagged , , on December 3, 2008| 6 Comments »

390 Dawes Road - Cold lodgings

390 Dawes Road - Cold lodgings

The tenants of 390 Dawes Road (a METCAP managed building) are without adequate heating for yet another winter.

Our sources tell us that the radiators give off faint warmth but nothing that would produce the “minimum air temperature of 21 degrees Celsius is maintained in all areas of the dwelling unit from the 15th day of September in each year to the 1st day of June in the following year” required by the City’s bylaw on apartment temperature.

Tenants have been complaining about the lack of heating to the City’s Municipal Licensing and Standards and Health departments but so far have not seen the situation get better.

Just not good enough.

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING INITIATIVES . . . City of Toronto

Posted in Affordable housing, Building Maintenance, Canada's Housing Policy, City Hall, City of Toronto, Developers, Economy, Home ownership, Housing waiting list, Rent-geared-to-income, Subsidized housing, Tax breaks, tagged , , , , , , on November 18, 2008| 2 Comments »

The City of Toronto’s Affordable Housing Office has been involved in various housing initiatives to make life easier for renters in the GTA with low or modest incomes .  The initiatives include various strategies that would increase the supply of affordable rental housing and also provide opportunities for low-income renters to purchase a home.  Here are some examples of the City’s affordable housing initiatives:

1. Rental Housing
The City of Toronto’s Affordable Housing Office has a project in place to increase the number of affordable rental units available to renters with modest incomes. This ‘affordable rental housing’ project consists of 35 rental buildings under development and as of September 2008 a total 6 were completed.  You can view a list of the ongoing building and (more…)

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