'I boil water to shower': Tenants living without heat and hot water for weeks in downtown Toronto apartment building

Tenants of a Toronto building have been without heat and hot water for weeks.

“I boil water to shower, I boil water to do my dishes, running space heaters and constantly juggling between outlets to make sure we don’t trip the breakers,” said Tanya Osmond, who lives in the building in the Church and Wellesley area.

“It’s been exhausting. It’s been incredibly, incredibly tiring. And just that fear of just feeling that unsafe in your own home.”

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According to Osmond, her neighbour heard the sound of pipes being cut on Dec. 13 and the following day, she went to the boiler room to see a gas line had been disconnected and uncapped.

“It was right next to the boilers that were running. There’s open flames in those boilers, it’s obviously an incredibly, incredibly dangerous situation,” said Osmond, adding she called the Technical Safety Standards Authority (TSSA).

A spokesperson for the TSSA confirmed to CTV News Toronto that they sent an inspector to find some safety hazards.

“[…] At that point in time, they call in the gas distributor, which in this case was Enbridge, who has [the] ability to turn off the gas and also has responsibilities to make sure that gas is being supplied under safe conditions,” said Alexandra Campbell, spokesperson for TSSA. “There certainly were some serious enough hazards that required the gas to be turned off, which is obviously a very difficult decision to make in winter.”

The TSSA said inspectors found somewhere between 15 and 20 non-compliance issues.

The gas was turned off on Dec. 19, and ever since, the temperature inside has plummeted. City bylaw staff have been coming daily to take the temperature of the building, and around noon on Monday, it registered less than 9C inside David Holysh’s apartment. The bylaw requires a building to be kept at 21 degrees.

“It’s frigid right? I can see my breath it’s very, very cold,” he said. “I tried living here last night but it was really too cold, my feet and fingers were numb.”

Building management offered to help tenants find alternative accommodation and has provided space heaters for tenants staying in their units.

Holysh said three of his five space heaters came from the building, but he can’t plug them in all at once, or else his circuit breakers cut him off.

“So I really can’t run them as hot as they need to be,” he told CTV News. “The building can’t handle running all these space heaters at once.”

CTV News reached out to the building management for comment, but no one responded by publication. In emails sent to tenants, reviewed by CTV News Toronto, 30 Charles Property Management said, “…the City ByLaw Enforcement Officer has chosen to impose a daily penalty of $500 starting from the date heating services are suspended.”

That email continues to say, “…We already offered temporary replacement accommodation, waived rent for those finding their own temporary accommodation, or compensation for permanent replacement. Since these options themselves voluntarily and indirectly penalize us, and remedy the problem, having a second penalty from the City contradicts the principle of preventing double jeopardy.”

It concludes with, “We will engage in legal consultation whether we have an obligation to offer any rent abatement and what is the legally required amount, and we will keep you updated. Until then, full rent payment remains in place.”

For Holysh, that makes things tough. He’s been staying at a friend’s apartment that is normally rented out.

“It’s kind of a tricky situation where I don’t think he’s going to make me pay the rent at the end of the day, but then I’ve also kind of put him in a hard position too where he’s not going to get rent,” he said. “So, in my case, I’ve had to find rent elsewhere as well as here. It’s tough having to pay for two rents at once.”

According to the city, it has active investigations for complaints related to the building at 30 Charles St. E and “is taking enforcement action, including laying charges (fines).”

Tenants say new property management bought the building in March 2023. According to city records from 2017, when RentSafeTO was established, to January 2023, there was one request for service. From March 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, there have been 61.

“From March 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2023, after conducting investigations, the City issued seven Orders to Comply and two Notices of Violation regarding property standards at 30 Charles St. E. During this period, three re-inspection fees were charged.”

The TSSA is investigating why the boiler was left “in that unsafe state” and who left the boiler in that condition.

“Pending the outcome of the investigation, we could be taking enforcement actions, which actually can go right up to prosecution,” said Campbell, “there’s a number of types of enforcement actions.”

She did not provide a timeline on how long the investigation will last but said it doesn’t have to be complete before the gas is turned back on—a TSSA-licenced professional needs to come in and fix the system.

The latest email sent to tenants from their landlord suggests that the boiler will be fixed within two weeks.