Your landlord now has to let you install air conditioning
An update to the Residential Tenancies Act came into effect this week, just in time for an orange-level heat warning
With Toronto still under an orange heat warning amid temperatures that feel as hot as 42 degrees, there’s a new law you may want to be aware of.
In force as of Canada Day, an update to the Residential Tenancies Act now permits rental tenants to install air conditioning in their units if the landlord hasn’t provided it.
Related: “Can I cool off in that children’s splash pad?" Your heat wave questions, answered
There are some caveats: tenants have to pay for the cost of cooling their homes with air conditioning, and landlords can increase the monthly rent amount if they are the ones who cover hydro. Installation must safely comply with regulations set out by the municipality as well as the tenant’s building management.
But the new law could make summer heat waves more bearable for the approximately half of Torontonians who rent, especially as temperature records continue to be broken—on Canada Day, the same day as the legal change came into effect, Pearson International Airport hit 36 degrees, surpassing the former high of 35.6, which was set in 2002.
For those without air conditioning for now, Environment Canada’s instructions are to “use a fan, or move to a cooler area of your living space. If your living space is hot, move to a cool public space such as a cooling centre, community centre, library or shaded park.”
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
