Residents at a 100-year-old apartment complex in Forest Hill, home to roughly 200 tenants, say it’s been a daily struggle to get consistent heating as the deep freeze continues.
“We were experiencing lots of challenges without radiated heat. After many complaints to our landlord, [we were] informed that there were issues with our boiler as it was old and needed to be replaced,” said Jill Naftolin, who has lived in the complex for 17 years.
Naftolin says the building’s boiler problem dates back to Oct. 31, 2024. Since then, building management has provided tenants with electric heaters and a $200 rebate on rent but says it hasn’t sufficed with frigid winter temperatures.
“There were instances where it was well below 20 C. The ruling ended up being 16 C.”
Toronto has experienced frigid temperatures since the start of January, with daytime highs in the -7 C to -10 C range and feeling much colder with the wind chill.
Another resident, Rosa Milando, has lived at 701 Eglinton Avenue West for 34 years. She also contacted management, claiming the city evaluated the building after a tenant complaint. On Nov. 28, she issued an emergency order for a new boiler, stating it was a hazard.
“[Building officials] were told if you don’t get a good heating system here in 30 days, we will start fining you,” Milando said. “And they didn’t get it within that period, so they began to get fined.”
New boiler installed stopped working shortly after
The tenants say a new boiler was installed one week after the order was issued. However, roughly three weeks ago, the new boiler broke, leaving residents without heat again.
“It’s unsafe for children; we have elderly neighbours,” said Naftolin.
“I have a neighbour with an amputated leg who needs a lot of care and can’t manage that on his own. The psychological stress and having to cancel so much work, having two heaters now; my hydro bill is going from $92-$260 a month.”
The tenants also say plugging in multiple electric heaters poses a fire hazard.
“With too many fuses on certain lines, your fuses will blow,” Naftolin said. “We’ve all been blowing between ten to two dozen fuses on the regular, and even the fuses we were originally provided were not the right size, which can cause fire risk.”
A city spokesperson issued a statement to CityNews, saying officials have received multiple low heat complaints from residents since October. The city also claimed that heat had been restored to the building on Dec. 20, and the order was closed.
Since Jan. 1, the city has received seven more complaints from tenants, some of which are still under investigation. CityNews reached out to building management for comment and did not hear back before publication.
