North Toronto apartment tenants without heat for 10 days

Residents of an aging north Toronto apartment building have gone 10 days without heat or hot water, and suspect their landlord doesn’t care to fix the problem because she hopes to flatten the structure and replace it with an avant-garde condo complex.

“She is putting her interest in front of the tenants. Absolutely,” said Andrew Gallagher, who lives in the three-storey building at 2779 Yonge St., where rent is roughly $1,000 for a one-bedroom unit.

The landlord, Bianca Pollak, told the Star it could take months for the heat to be turned back on, claiming she would have to gut the building to replace decades-old pipes and the furnace, which was red-tagged by a technician last week.

Pollak has applied to build an elaborate 11-storey condo at the address — designed by the same architect behind the Ontario College of Arts and Design building on McCaul St. — and couldn’t say what she plans to do next, given the extent of the repairs needed.

“If there was a simple answer to this (situation) it would be already done,” she told the Star. “I’m not a magician. I’m sorry. It’s not simple.”

The frigid living conditions began Feb. 11, when tenants awoke to loud knocking from firefighters at around 7 a.m. because of a carbon monoxide leak. The furnace was subsequently condemned, and the hydro company won’t turn on the gas again until the building’s heating system is deemed safe, said local councillor Jaye Robinson (Ward 25, Don Valley West), who has been “working around the clock” to find a solution for the tenants, who are living without central heat or hot water.

The City of Toronto has a bylaw requiring landlords to make sure residences are heated to at least 21C between September and June. Pollak has distributed space heaters to tenants, and a unit visited by the Star on Thursday wasn’t unacceptably cold.

But when the temperatures dip well below zero, it’s been tough to stay warm, said Coda Timchuk, 20, who lives with a friend on the second floor.

“It’s kind of inhumane to let people live this way,” she said, describing how she boils water and leaves her stove on to warm up.

Constructed in the 1930s, the building has creaky floors, pallid lights that flicker in the hallways and a history of city bylaw investigations over snow removal, leaking ceilings and adequate heating. Notices in the hallway Thursday suggest going to the community centre on Eglinton Ave. W. to shower.

“Thank God it’s getting warmer out now, because the pipes would freeze in the whole building,” said Timchuk.

Councillor Robinson said city officials have visited the Yonge apartment daily since Feb. 11 to test temperatures, and have fined Pollak several hundred dollars for breaking the heating bylaw.

But the city can’t force Pollak to repair the furnace, she said.

“Ultimately, the onus is on the landlord to make repairs,” said Robinson. “I’m actually shell-shocked that the city doesn’t have teeth to deal with this … It’s an unacceptable situation.”

Daniel Simon, head of the tenants’ association in the building, has filed an application for an emergency hearing at the provincial Landlord and Tenant Board. “We just want our heat and hot water back on. We’re hoping some attention will force (Pollak) to do something,” he said.

“I understand they are frustrated and they want this resolved as soon as possible,” Pollak said. “There is no answer at this point.”

Gallagher responded that tenants have a hard time believing that Pollak can’t address the heating system issue sooner.

“Most people get that business has to happen. Condos have to be built and this is an old building,” he said. “We don’t know if she is honestly telling us the truth or making it hard for us here so we eventually have to move out. A lot tenants feel that way.”

Robinson said she plans to meet with Pollak and city planning officials on Friday to discuss the situation.