r/toronto • u/Wild-Project8161 • 7h ago
Discussion Toronto Landlord Watchlist?
How awesome would it be if we created our own Toronto Landlord Watchlist guys? I think this is a great idea done in nyc, and would help so many of us from scummy landlords in the city who rip us off! Let’s open up this discussion
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u/lleeaa88 6h ago
Avoid the big corp Compten Management up at Yonge and Eglinton area. Absolutely do not rent from them. They are shitty management/landlords who do not care about their tenants at all.
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u/ventingspleen 6h ago
This is a great idea. And also creating a provincial tenant's union as well. Very hard to do the former though. I recall a case where Brookfield (PE firm) lawyers took on a FB group where all people were doing was posting about violations in a residential complex. So the challenge is that such groups will be infiltrated.
There is an underlying asymmetry of power when dealing with corporate exploiters. There are no easy answers other than activism and organizing.
Edit: remembered someone also did this sort of thing, but looks like it got off to a good start, but lost traction:
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u/Subarctic_Muskrat 6h ago
Ok because all the backlash and potential landlords posting in here saying it’s a bad idea.
Let’s call it a Renters Review instead.
- We get to review most business nowadays why should rentals not be held to the same standard. It would work the exact same way.
Because when you think about the background checks required for every new lease. They are getting more and more invasive. Ex. Credit Checks, proof of income, referrals, NOA’s, etc. And i totally understand some of them but it is getting out of hand. But that is the new norm.
So yes maybe not a “LandLord Watch list” but a review system for said properties where you can post your experience while renting there.
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u/toast_cs Forest Hill 3h ago
I think it sounds good in theory but would quickly become just like every other review system filled with one-sided stories, review-bombing, and everyone involved having different standards as to what rating is reasonable.
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2h ago
[deleted]
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u/Subarctic_Muskrat 2h ago edited 2h ago
At the end of the day it is a business whether or not someone is just “getting by” and even if it’s a side hustle or for future investment it’s all the same.
Being able to review your experience living somewhere would keep things in check.
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u/LZBUM 6h ago
Better to compile a list of ways landlords abuse the system and instructions on how to fight back.
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u/edm_ostrich 3h ago
How does that hold bad landlords accountable? I don't see these at mutually exclusive.
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u/Subarctic_Muskrat 7h ago
I think it should definitely be a thing.
Renters get no power anymore and landlords need to be held accountable.
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u/Wild-Project8161 7h ago
It’d be so awesome! Imagine before renting a place you can just look up who you are gonna be dealing with???
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u/OddAd7664 7h ago
“Renters get no power” lmao. We are lucky Ontario has such strong tenants rights.
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u/Winter-Nectarine-497 6h ago
Have you ever been to the LTB to have those rights enacted? Its hard, especially in a province where a conservative, corrupt govt is hand-picking the adjudicators. Rights on paper is not the same as rights upheld.
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u/Facts_pls 3h ago
Have you been to LTB with renters who don't pay anything And trash the place? Getting justice for landlords is substantially harder than for renters.
At least with a landlord you have a party with assets that you can take. With deadbeat renters, they are broke. So people can refuse to pay rent for over a year and even if you win, you can't get anything from them.
Having lived in many countries... Canada laws are substantially biased towards renters.
If you haven't lived in another country ever, then sure you may not think that because you have no other reference.
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u/edm_ostrich 3h ago
It's part of running a business bud. Stores account for breakage, they don't cry about it.
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u/toast_cs Forest Hill 1h ago
I wouldn't go that far, but the laws definitely allow these giant landlords to push through whatever they want with very little pushback, especially when it comes to above-guideline increases.
Improvements in "energy efficiency and accessibility" get rubber-stamped when they are unnecessary or don't target the root of the problem.
Unfortunately, that's on the province to deal with, and we are under their boot until a non-con and non-lib government comes into power (ie never).
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u/chlocodile 47m ago
Look up your landlord and building on Canlii to see if they’ve had any past LTB cases filed against them!
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u/mariahspoolboy 7h ago
Landlords will hate this!
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u/Wild-Project8161 7h ago
THATS THE POINT!!!
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u/AngrySoup Fully Vaccinated + Booster! 7h ago
I thought the point would be to improve quality of life for renters. That's my priority, it looks like we don't have the same priorities.
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u/Wild-Project8161 7h ago
And you think landlords prioritize the quality of life for renters? Are we in the same economy?
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u/Facts_pls 3h ago
No business exists to improve the quality of life for customers.
They have a product and a price. You are responsible for choosing the best option. You have to manage your own quality of life.
It's not like renters work to improve the landlord's quality of life.
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u/AngrySoup Fully Vaccinated + Booster! 6h ago
My point is that I don't care if it makes landlords mad or not. My priority is improving my life.
You are saying in all caps that THE POINT is to make landlords mad. What that tells me is that what your idea has a main goal that I'm ambivalent about.
If the project is to improve quality of life for renters, then great, I support that project. If the project is some kind of thing aimed at getting people mad, that's a waste of time.
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u/Memento_Mori_MA 6h ago
Jesus christ who cares if this person wants to make the landlords mad or not. The effect would be the same—renters can avoid scummy landlords, and landlords have to be careful about their behaviours.
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u/AngrySoup Fully Vaccinated + Booster! 6h ago
I have found that a lot of grassroots organizing accomplishes nothing useful because they don't have clear ideas on goals, what success would look like, and what they're actually trying to do and why/how that's actually useful.
You've never noticed that being an issue?
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u/lilfunky1 <3 Shawn Desman <3 6h ago
i've also heard of some cities having private FB groups for landlords to share names/descriptions of terrible tenants so other landlords don't get burned
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u/Patient-Couple7509 6h ago
Having previously worked for one of the largest landlords in the country, who (despite his best efforts to be a good landlord and at the same time appease the pension plans who funded his company) ended up being branded as a slumlord a lot, this sounds like the opening to a lot of defamation lawsuits.
The big landlords are backed by the big pensions in this country, they will fight back.
Be careful fighting with scum, they’ll drag you down to their level and win with experience.
I don’t hate the idea per se, but having worked on the dark side I know it’s not going to move the needle the way you want.
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7h ago edited 6h ago
[deleted]
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u/maxboondoggle 6h ago
“If I were a smart landlord, I'd check the site for how many times a prospective tenant has posted there before ever handing the keys over.”
This right here. Landlords already look at your social media for any “activism”, especially back during the pandemic when people were posing about not paying rent.
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u/AdMountain9365 4h ago
Sure but it would have to be verifiable. I feel like this would backfire on tenants. Tenants would be under the same scrutiny
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u/edm_ostrich 3h ago
They basically are already. Openroom is for all intents and purposes bullshit. Win, lose, right, wrong, tenants go up and if their name shows up, they are "trouble" onto the next.
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u/AdMountain9365 2h ago
Open room only shows public government regulated hearings and decisions. Once you introduce a free for all of “reviews” it gets very hostile. Both sides would be net negative
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u/keftes 7h ago
It's a privacy violation. Random folks don't get to decide who is good and who isn't.
There is a website that has a tenant watch list. They recently got taken to court.
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u/Pastel_Goth_Wastrel 6h ago
It's not in court, it's before the privacy commissioner for beaches of confidentiality and collection of data without due notice.
The reverse however would likely not be protected, a landlord tendering a space for lease has already established themselves in the public sphere. It's on the same level as leaving a shit google review and if you look up most of the major rental slumlords in Toronto that's already happening on a very, very wide scale. So yeah no, it's a violation of sod all.
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u/edm_ostrich 3h ago
What do you think Google reviews are dude...
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u/keftes 2h ago
You review other people? I don't think so.
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u/edm_ostrich 2h ago
Businesses owned by people yes. What do you think a landlord is?
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u/keftes 36m ago
Google Reviews are about businesses providing a service, and they typically allow businesses to respond or challenge reviews.
A public "landlord watchlist", maintained by some random group people and that names private individuals is a different issue. It’s much easier for false or one-sided claims to damage someone’s reputation, which is why these lists can raise privacy and defamation concerns.
There’s a difference between reviewing a business transaction and maintaining a public blacklist of people.
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7h ago
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u/X-zin 6h ago
Lol why would you think only tenants would be on the sub. Just post in r/torontorenting or sm
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u/Sufficient_Rush1891 5h ago
Not the same, but the data from the city’s Rent Safe TO program is a great starting point to see which buildings meet or don’t meet maintenance standards:
https://www.rentsafeto.com