Olivia Chow has pledged a firm crackdown on negligent landlords, warning that the City of Toronto will intervene directly to repair unsafe apartment buildings and bill property owners for the costs through their property taxes. The mayor pointed to a troubled high-rise at 500 Dawes Road in East York as a key example, saying the city is prepared to take action after years of unresolved violations and poor maintenance.
City officials are expected to inspect the 14-storey building, which contains 332 units and is more than six decades old, to determine the scope of repairs needed. Contractors will then be hired to complete the work, which could include pest control and other urgent maintenance issues. The city plans to recover the cost by adding the expenses to the landlord’s property tax bill. Chow said the move is meant to send a clear message that landlords who neglect their properties will be held accountable.
Municipal records show the building has been the subject of repeated inspections by several city departments, including fire, public health and municipal standards officials. Since 2021, the property has accumulated 83 fire code violations, while numerous enforcement proceedings remain underway. Additional problems have also been recorded under Toronto’s RentSafe program, which monitors the safety and maintenance of apartment buildings across the city.
Since early 2024, the building has been cited for 76 RentSafe violations, including 18 outstanding orders requiring compliance with safety and maintenance standards. An unresolved order related to an unsafe building condition has also remained open since February 2025. These ongoing concerns have kept the property among the lowest-rated apartment buildings in Toronto.
Under the RentSafe program’s scoring system, which ranks buildings on a scale of one to 100, the Dawes Road property currently holds a score of 37 — the fourth lowest among nearly 3,600 buildings listed in the city’s database. By comparison, the average rating across Toronto is 91, and only a small number of buildings fall below a score of 50.
Although the city has long possessed the authority to step in and carry out repairs when landlords fail to maintain their properties, officials have rarely exercised that power. The issue gained renewed attention last year after the city’s ombudsman criticized municipal inaction in a case where residents of a rooming house were left without essential utilities for months following a fire.
Following that report, city council directed staff to develop a clearer enforcement framework that would allow Toronto to intervene more decisively when landlords fail to address serious safety issues. That framework is expected to be finalized in the coming months as the city strengthens its approach to protecting tenants and improving living conditions in rental buildings.