City law mandates a minimum temperature of 21 C in winter but lacks a similar rule for cooling in summer. While air-conditioned apartments must stay below 26 C, this standard doesn’t apply to units without air conditioning.
The proposed bylaw, which will go before city council on Dec. 17, would require landlords to maintain indoor temperatures in rental units below 27 C. If approved, the regulation will take effect on April 30, 2025, in time for summer.
21C is the minimum?! I like my house around 17C at night in the winter. how else do you get all cozy in bed?
Living in a condo during winter in Toronto was pure hell. We’d have to leave windows and doors open all night to stay cool otherwise the temperature would easily reach 24C, it was insane
Yea, that’s pretty wild. I own my home and keep it at 67F (19.5C). I guess it’s different if you have no control over your home temp.
Though I think a max temp of 27C is reasonable, they live in a cool climate, not every home even has AC.
Toronto/surrounding region is definitely not a cool climate. AC is 100% necessary starting in May/June through to October nowadays
I lived the vast majority of my life in a warmer climate without AC, it’s definitely not required unless you have a disability.
I feel like you haven’t experienced 30C+ with 90%+ humidity because it caused a condo full of ~1000 able bodied people to collectively lose their minds against the condo board when the building AC failed mid summer.
My experience was also not unique:
But I guess you’re right, why should I be considering my silly sensory experience when your superior experience is obviously the universal truth. So silly of me
My building’s AC failed when it was supposed to be started up in May about a decade ago. The condo ended up buying a portable AC unit for each apartment – some people were pissed because they had to pay the electricity to operate it. We asked them if they’d like us to take the unit back, and 100% of them said no. :)
It was an awful summer, but the A/C was replaced with a new modern unit, and not only was it better, but it used about half the power of the 30 year old unit.
Having to cool every home to below 27C sounds insane to me, coming from the tropics. Just turn on a fan!
30C at ground level is not 30C on the 10th or even 5th floor. The differences in temperature as you go higher are very noticeable. Plus, a lot of condos have large glass walls most of which are not open-able windows. Units are effectively greenhouses with no ventilation.
I don’t get your point. The law isn’t referring to a specific floor, it’s the maximum temperature anywhere in the building. I’m saying 27C seems way too low, setting the max at 30 or so would have made way more sense. This seems like a good way to mandate wastage of power.
Units are effectively greenhouses with no ventilation.
Again, since we’re using exact temp values, that’s not really relevant. Though that’s probably a much better starting point for legislation - better building techniques and green design.
