Renter Beware: Six outrageous recent Toronto apartment listings

As GTA rents continue to rise, the properties being passed off as decent living spaces are becoming increasingly shocking. Below, a roundup of some of the sorriest rentals on the market.

Single in the City

Price: $1,000 Neighbourhood: Downtown Listing: At 250 square feet, this basement “bachelor pad” is true to its billing in the sense that it can accommodate a single individual. Since the unit’s one window is completely covered, candlelight is an option, but the kitchenette—a mini fridge and a microwave suited for “minor cooking”—precludes any possibility of a romantic dinner date. Fittingly, the place comes with a single mattress.

A Puzzling Place

Price: $1,250 Neighbourhood: Leslieville Listing: Colourful, mismatched tiles can give apartments a bohemian aesthetic, brightening up otherwise drab spaces. But this one-bedroom-plus-den basement rental crams together tiles of every imaginable size, shape and colour on every imaginable surface.

Bed and Breakfast

Price: $300 Neighbourhood: Scarborough Listing: This listing advertises a “very nice location!!!” While that may be true of the building, the actual room on offer has a less desirable location: $300 covers a cot in the kitchen, and the unit is shared with two other people. The space seems to come with a little home-office setup consisting of a folding chair and a TV table.

Uncharted Waters

Price: $1,800 Neighbourhood: Etobicoke Listing: It’s hard to imagine $1,800 being a fair price for any room, let alone this small dingy one in an Etobicoke two-bedroom. The listing claims that the apartment is close to a walkway with a view of the lake, but this is no waterfront property.

Open Concept

Price: $500 Neighbourhood: The Village Listing: This living room in a one-bedroom—with a single mattress on the floor for a prospective tenant—is described as “fancy and bright.” You’d be living in the common space, and it’s not clear from the ad how many people you’d be sharing the apartment with.

Thank You for Sharing

Price: $900 Neighbourhood: Downtown Listing: This home has eight people sharing one kitchen. The two available rooms are being advertised only to “FEMALES/WOMEN,” and all of the women in the house have to use the same bathroom. You can retreat to your bedroom, but it’s dark and dated.