Search Properties By:
Toronto Houses
Downtown Condos
West of Toronto Listings
East of Toronto Listings
North of Toronto Listings
Team Listings
Featured Home Video
Real Estate Minute TV
Avoiding Home Damage From Neighbours’ Construction In Toronto
A recent Toronto Star column by Toronto real estate lawyer Bob Aaron shines some light on a somewhat gray area for downtown Toronto homeowners with neighbours in close proximity, which is an extremely common situation due to how homes are built in the city.
It's not unusual for Toronto real estate to be close together downtown.
Aaron tells the story of a client whose new neighbour next door had dug up the area between the homes to repair the foundation on their own home, but in the process caused damage to the client’s home by removing the weeping tiles and waterproofing from his foundation walls. The client became understandably concerned that the hole between the homes might eventually be filled without his foundation being repaired properly.
When a neighbour must access adjoining property for the purposes of making repairs, building fences or other reasonable situations, they have a right to if the neighbour consents to this or they get a permit from the Municipal Licensing and Standards department, according to Toronto Bylaw. As well, damages caused by accessing the land or whatever is done on the land is the responsibility of the neighbour, who must provide compensation. A permit, on the other hand, needs liability insurance and a security deposit.
The wording of the bylaw, in particular, does not say that permission or a permit are the only ways for someone to enter their neighbour’s property in order to do repairs, so if the neighbour skirts the rules and just goes ahead, the city can’t do anything about it and the matter becomes private. The only recourse the homeowner with the affected property has is taking the neighbour to civil court for trespassing and damaging the property.
If you are not overly friendly with your neighbours, keeping an eye on any work that begins near your property, especially if your neighbour has hired a company to do it, is wise. Toronto real estate is often built quite close to other homes, and there’s a good chance that if a neighbour has a lackadaisical roofing crew doing some re-shingling that roofing nails will wind up in your driveway. There’s also a good chance that if they need to redo their foundation, you’ll be shaken awake every morning at 7 a.m. This is why it’s prudent to either get along with your neighbours or keep an eye on their construction. Each day when work ends, do a quick inspection of the outside of your property for any damage or issues that might arise in the coming days, and bring them up then and there with your neighbour and the construction crew before it gets out of hand and you have to resort to legal unpleasantries.
Toronto Homeowner’s Guide To Finding Your Septic Tank
Some Toronto real estate owners as well as those who own recreational real estate in smaller cottage communities may have their wastewater treated by a septic tank, or if you want to get fancy, an onsite wastewater system. When buying Toronto real estate with a septic tank, you should ask the sellers when the septic tank was pumped last, and whether there have ever been tank or water quality problems.
A diagram of a septic tank and its proximity to the leaching bed and home from the University of Guelph's Ontario Rural Wastewater Centre.
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, a septic tank needs to be pumped every three to five years or when it is 1/3 full with solid waste, but this timeline may fluctuate depending on frequency of use or the size of your family. Additionally, new septic tanks are made of concrete or fiberglass, but home or property owners with an older septic tank may find that it’s actually made of wood or steel and could need replacing due to rot or rust.
Septic tank problems can be serious and difficult to spot. Some signs include spongy land near the septic tank, water-using appliances taking a longer time to drain, sewage odours after heavy rainfall or dangerous bacteria in well water.
When it comes time to pump or inspect a septic tank, finding the access hatches – which are buried underground – can be difficult. Approximately 25 per cent of Canadian homeowners have a septic tank on their property, but if you’re a new homeowner, finding out where on the property the access hatch is located may have slipped your mind. Some homeowners might go the “dig until you find it” route, which isn’t great if you want to entertain in your backyard or enjoy it at all during what little summer we Canadians get.
Things to look for when finding your Toronto or cottage septic tank
The weeping bed is a special, layered area of earth next to the septic tank that helps treat and filter liquid waste. This weeping or leaching bed appears as a large, raised patch of grass on most properties. In other cases, the tank itself can create a raised area of about four feet by eight feet in the backyard. A smaller depression in the soil can also indicate the access hatch if it has previously been dug for. In the winter, snow may melt oddly to create a depression just over the septic tank. A small, round vent on the side of a home on the foundation may be the plumbing waste vent, which is also directly lined up with the septic tank on the property.
Once the hatch is located, a marker such as a stake or custom-made lid that is flush with the ground (for easy lawn mowing) can make accessing a septic tank much less disruptive and difficult.
How Can Toronto Homeowners Protect Themselves From Being Pulled Under With A Sinking Contracting Company?
Toronto Homeowners Should Never Pay For Work Upfront
Some recent news out of the United States has shone light on two important and financially dangerous aspects of having work done around or on your home. One issue is that if a company is paid upfront for all of the work, there is little recourse for homeowners if the company goes out of business before the work is completed. The other is that contractors usually pick up materials on credit with companies and use your home as collateral. This way when they don’t pay their tab, the supplier can come after homeowners, and sometimes to the tune of thousands of dollars.
When working with contractors, Toronto homeowners should do their research.
One roofing company shut down in the middle of several projects after completing only half of the work but getting all of the pay, while a swimming pool installer did the same, but now homeowners are being targeted by subcontractors looking for payment for services rendered, even though the homeowners already paid the company in full. They’ve also received letters from concrete companies saying there’s a pending lien on their home for supplies, despite the fact that they also paid for those very same supplies already.
Never pay for a full contracting or renovation job completely up front. A deposit is usually necessary, but avoid any company or individual that requires a complete payment upfront. Do your research on companies before you hire them, and ask for references. Most importantly, follow up on those references and ask the company’s other clients how well the project went, what the workers were like and whether there were any unexpected problems or fees and how those issues were resolved.
Current Toronto Real Estate Cooling Is Just Inevitable Due To Earlier Boom
In the first two weeks of August, there was a 29 per cent difference from the same time last year as well for Toronto existing home sales.
Home sales across Toronto are down, but it was to be expected.
In July, existing home sales across Canada fell 30 per cent when compared to July 2009, with Ontario and British Columbia pulling down averages across the board and taking the blame almost entirely according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.
Home buyers seem to be sitting on the fence with slightly higher expectations because of the booming market and lower prices earlier in the year and all of the current uncertainty is leading to hesitation for sellers when putting their homes on the market.
Even the Bank of Montreal recently released a statement in response to the latest numbers saying that it seems anyone who was going to buy a home this year had simply done it already.
While the decline is a bit more than was expected, sales in 2009 were high above the expected trend, leading to a larger-looking decline than reality would suggest. The ups and downs are a normal sign of a healthy market.
Regardless, the ebb and flow of the real estate market doesn’t change how people move, be it for a new job, lifestyle changes or any other reason. Your Toronto real estate agent watches the markets carefully and can help you determine the best course of action with regards to pricing your home so it sells.
Watch the Toronto waterfront area grow!
If you’re lucky enough to own a piece of downtown Toronto real estate, you can just sit back and watch the waterfront area grow.
A Waterfront Toronto conceptual drawing of Queens Quay, looking east.
Toronto’s new Sugar Beach is just one part of the city’s waterfront revitalization projects. Plenty of thought has gone into it: Pink umbrellas, imported sugar-like sand and well-thought out landscaping.
However, next to Sugar Beach and marring the picturesque landscape is a boxy, uninspired building – the Corus Entertainment headquarters, a generic green glass office building. While the design is sustainable, it doesn’t quite suit the beachy atmosphere. Locals have been quite critical of the area’s architecture and the fact that it already has the whole no swimming thing going for it, being completely fenced in from the water itself. It’s not a place where Toronto residents can beat the heat unless they want to head towards the giant fountain. Still, the area used to be a parking lot.
Sugar beach is the second urban beach in the city. The Queen’s Quay streetcar line still needs to be extended to get the average biped there, but if you’re on a bike you can get there relatively easily. It’s just one more element in Toronto’s growth as a waterfront destination.
Along with selecting Hines as the real estate company to develop the next great Toronto neighbourhood, Waterfront Toronto has several projects on the go including the Lower Don Lands, the West Don Lands, East Bayfront, Port Lands, the Central Waterfront and the Gardiner area.
Those curious about the waterfront projects can check out the Waterfront Toronto website, which has a listing of projects that are underdevelopment, in the planning stages and recently completed.
