Toronto Income Property Newsletter – October 2017

While the weather stayed hot in September, the Toronto real estate market continued to cool. The decline that started during the summer months carried over into September and many properties that would have instantly sold six months ago, continue to sit.

From an income property perspective, top quality duplexes and triplexes in the downtown core have not dropped that much. It seems to me like the biggest shifts are happening in the outlying areas of the city – those properties are going to be hit the hardest. Remember though that the market earlier this year was definitely over-heated so really this more balanced market is a return to normal conditions. The average price of a detached home has slipped to under a million dollars again and condo sales have been falling as well.

I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and best of luck to TFC in their quest for a record-breaking season and their quest for their first championship.

- P.A.

This past week we had unseasonably high temperatures. Normally at this time of year landlords are responsible for turning on the heat and making sure that the premises are warm enough. The media however were imploring landlords to turn down the heat and if possible, re-engage the air conditioning. What exactly are the landlord’s responsibility for setting the furnace?

The temperatures are set under municipal bylaws. If the tenant is not the cause for the cold temperatures, such as by keeping the windows open, or setting a thermostat to a lower temperature, then the landlord has a responsibility to maintain a minimum temperature as set by the municipality. If the landlord is not meeting the minimums, the tenant can complain to the city's Building and Inspections department or your city councillor.

In Toronto the temperature must be a minimum of 21C (70 Fahrenheit) from September 15 to June 1 according to Chapter 497-2 of the Toronto Municipal Code under bylaw 499-2000.

The Toronto Real Estate Board reported 6,357 homes sold in August 2017. This August sales volume represents a 7.7 percent increase over the sales volume reported for July 2017 but was 34.8 percent lower than August 2016.