Residents of a building near Yonge and St. Clair say their apartments are "hot as hell" because their landlord turned off the air-conditioning earlier this month.
Building management has told residents that they switched from the cooling to heating system at the beginning of the month, because they are following city rules.
The bylaw states that apartments have to have a minimum temperature of 21 degrees after September 15, but does not say anything about turning air-conditioning off and heating on.
Mayor John Tory and several councillors are asking landlords to use common sense.
Hope common sense & consideration will help get heat/AC issues addressed in buildings where things are too hot now. https://t.co/tBSwufzjKe
— John Tory (@JohnTory) September 21, 2017
In a memo sent to residents of 44 Jackes Ave, management says that it takes five days to switch between cooling and heating and they are not going to back now.
Residents, meanwhile, say it has been hard to cope with the heat in their apartments during the unusually hot, late summer weather.
"Terrible. It's hot as hell," says Al, who lives on the 16th floor. "It's ridiculous."
Residents of this building near Yonge/St Clair say their units are "hot as hell" because landlord has turned A/C off for the season. pic.twitter.com/GeTHS13OkI
— NEWSTALK1010 (@NEWSTALK1010) September 21, 2017
"I'm dying everyday, it's horrible," says another resident, Nicky.
Residents say it doesn't make sense to turn off the air-conditioning based on a date on the calendar.
"We do pay for an air-conditioned apartment, and why don't we turn it off in October now?" Mel asks. "It gets hot until October now."
Management has offered a cooling room, but Al says he hasn't seen it and won't bother looking for it.
"Why would I want to go to a room to cool when I pay a lot of money for an apartment... why wouldn't my apartment just be the temperature I want it to be?"
"It's stupid," Al adds.