Toronto tenants told they have to pay a fee to use Air Conditioner | Rental woes 

I live in a Sterling Karamar building in Etobicoke and also received this letter. Not part of my lease agreement, not paying.

The landlord should be held responsible if its part of the lease. Thats the main thing here. This is outside the agreed upon terms of the lease.

What is really going on in Canada?! Absolutely outrageous! They’re just trying to make an easy buck!! More regulation is needed with these renting companies! Supply and demand is the reason why these Tennant companies are acting a fool!

All Homestead properties, have received this letter!

You will own nothing, and you will be happy.

$150 for air conditioner for a whole year is cheap, if you are paying for your own electric is going to cost alot more then $150

It's ridiculous!! Rent are already so high for tenants to pay now landlord is saying they have to pay for using the A/C , it's ridiculous, using the A/C tenants don't need to pay again, they are already paying a high rent , so using the A/C should include in the rent, our government needs to take action about this matter.

Unless it's in the lease he can't charge

We go through this every summer. It is clear in the letter that was shown. If you are paying your own hydro, no changes but if hydro is included in your rent they are asking for payment of this additional charge. I pay my own hydro and use a window a/c unit and my bill goes up on average $30.00 - $40.00 per month when using the a/c. $150.00 for the season does not seem unreasonable. The issue stems from long term tenants paying below market rents and the property managers are finding ways to increase revenue. I am surprised the building just does not quit including hydro in the rent for all tenants, they will have to reduce rents for those tenants and then make ALL the tenants pay their own hydro. Problem solved. That way everyone pays for what they use.

When i rented it was definitely spelled out but pretty sure our fee was like 60-80$. Which i thought was reasonable but also kinda high already 150$ id have a hard time saying actually is the cost vs profits. Though our building also when they renovated specifically made the windows 1 inch smaller to prevent window united meaning wveryone had to rebuy floor units

If you are not paying for power this seems reasonable. I pay my own power and have a central whole house unit, in the summer my power bill goes up over $ 100.00 a month when I run mine. Therefore I only use it when I absolutely have to. I guess if you can’t afford A.C the don’t use it. The choice is yours.

Um pretty sure thats illegal.

Our management company issued letter asking for $250.00 a month to use A/C. I tossed in the trash. Maybe ask the management company for some clarity going forward. How many fans can I operate?

Bottom line is If you sign a Rental agreement and your hydrro..is Not included and you have to pay it. You signed that so you pay it

Yeah, and when the costs of upgrading the building's electrical system to meet the demand and the electrical rates get too high, cue the reno-victions while they install unit-level metering and a fresh coat of paint before upping the rent by 100% for the new tenants. We own a home with central AC but we don't run it due to the electrical cost. If you expect something for nothing, something's gonna give.

Ask landlords to have the Provincial government fund installation of solar panels to buildings to reduce current electricity loads with no increased financial obligation to tenants/landlords. Free electricity and more jobs, jobs, jobs will be created. The winner here is the companies who supply electricity with outrageous rates that keep escalating with the approval of the cities where they provide electricity. Price gouging is the issue.

This isn't new. I had to pay $60 per summer, per air conditioning unit, 35 years ago. When you realize how hot the 12th floor gets, it was a no-brainer.

$150? Other landlords charge $300+ for each AC unit. Purchasing those AC units is also a tenant cost.

That is a common practice that has been going on for years. A monthly seasonal addition to the rent based on the hydro rates is fair if your utilities are included in your rent, common knowledge.

I pay around 120 a month for electricity in my unit in alberta and that includes using my air conditioner

Get In Your Pods And Eat Zee Bugz

Bring them to court, how can that be legal!

Not Unreasonable.. 150$ is inexpensive for a luxury. I have Central air and don't use it. If I decided to put it on there's this thing called a “ Meter” that measures the amount of usage so that I get charged accordingly. Your just used to getting it for nothing

Use a fan and leave the fridge and freezer to cool the apartment

Ok since that's illegal, it'll be 150$/m

I understand how tenants feel but what about the Landlord? The cost of hydro has quadruple Like landlords just supposed to suck up inflation The landlord should go LTB To ask for permission to change extra for AC not try change what they want Just my opinion it will cost way more than a 150 to use AC I understand both points of view Cost of living is affecting everyone

Well of course they should.When I turn on the AC at my home i have to pay more ,you pay for what you use .

Perhaps the renters should pay for their own individual electricity usage. Electricity is not free.

What's next? Are they going to start charging to use elevator? Please insert your credit card and select your floor.

Carbon tax trickle down the chain

Rich fleecing the poor ...

Portable air conditioner. Pay my own hydro. Why would I need to pay extra lol. If electricity was included then yes. If It was a window unit that required professional installation for legal reasons then yes.

Get use to it government will do the same once they hear about it.

is Hydro included in the rent?

Saskatoon Housing Authority also does this.

Well Hydro aint free. Even for landlords lol! A detached house pay about $100 more per month during summer for heavy ac usage.

AC is a luxury

This isn't true!! Just put your AC in the window and stop with your whining. They told me the same thing and that was five years ago.. It's amazing how much trouble John and Karen make for everyone else...smh

It's a different story when drugs are involved

What about getting fans or related?

Dumb landlord was shortsighted. Not the tenants problem.

If the landlord is paying for the electricity....

Build more condos. Create competition.

Lib government is happy making both landlords and tenants fighting against each other.

That's the thing with tenants, they dont understand how things work. They just feel like they pay a fee and get all the entitlement there is. Nope, there is so much more to it. What if they all turn on their AC on the same day and the electrical system cant handle it? Then a fuse pops and there would be no electricity. Maybe that will require the building to upgrade the electrical system and they all have to leave. If i was the building owner, i would do it and set individual metering if there isn't already. Hell, do it like they do in the UK, prepaid usage.

Life hack: leave the fridge on and stick the back outside the balcony. Or fill the bathtub and bottles with water like they do in HK. Also if it’s a lot of money then why would the owner have to pay it? You’re the one choosing to use and benefit from it. Also it’s $150 a year that’s not bad.

Landlords are struggling as well. Lots of landlords are spending more than what they receive

I charge them between 800 and 1000 on utilities if they use AC

Unfortunately I think he can do this bc air conditioning is not a necessity. Only water and heat are

It is all so dumb. That woman said she's been there for 10 years, so she's likely paying rents based on prices from 10 years ago due to rent controls. The building can't increase her rent to keep pace with inflation, so they need to find some other way to make some money. But they can't charge more for electricity either if it's been included as part of rent. That's the fault of the property manager from 10 years ago, not the tenants. No doubt. But that doesn't change the fact that all these old apartment buildings are crumbling apart because they're not making market rate rents, and they can't do anything to fix that except the renovictions everyone hates, so we're all just trapped together by a broken system.

Go out buy some Ice , get a Fan and make your own Air Conditioner. Failing that maybe the tenants need to turn the heat on to the Landlord, burn it down and leave, he won’t stand the heat in the kitchen

These tenants are stupid. pay up as the landlord should NOT be paying your hydro use for an ac.

This is canada. Isn’t everything supposed to be free? Lol…Don’t worry, Justin will bring out the renters air conditioner rebate 😅

😆 🤣 😂 Trudeau's Canada

For all Trudeau supporters Ask him for help ...oh wait. He went to Ukraine to donate half a billion dollars from your TAX money . Sorry

Thank Trudeau

Hahahahaha

I own my own condo. I would never pay that. It’s a b