Toronto is sounding off about the worst and most unliveable condo complexes in the city

If you feel like the quality of Toronto's condos are going downhill, you're not imagining it — heck, even the New York Times has noticed — and residents seem to have a lot of opinions on which of the city's many residential complexes are the worst of the worst.

Whether they're buildings notorious for tiny units and impractical floor plans, for shoddy construction, thin walls and cheap fixtures, for constantly out-of-service elevators and fire alarms, or for being riddled with Airbnbs that attract all kinds of bad behaviour, we all have a few skyscrapers that come to mind.

And, they seem to be some of the same ones for everyone.

People losing it over videos showing how unlivable Toronto's condos have become https://t.co/afqQlVOgcy

— blogTO (@blogTO) March 12, 2024

In a recent Reddit discussion on the topic, more than 100 people chimed in with their suggestions for the list of the worst condo developments in Toronto of those that have risen into the skyline over the last decade.

Of course, there were multiple mentions of ICE Condos at 12 and 14 York Street, though some pointed out that the first of the two towers was completed in late 2014.

"The answer will always be the ICE condos... terrible build quality and layouts," one person wrote of the complex, which has become synonymous with shootings and other police incidents, fires, rental scams, legal battles, dirty elevators that stall and trap people, and more.

The high-rise dubbed Edge on Triangle Park, located at 36 Lisgar Street, was also named more than once, although one commenter noted that things at the address have "turned around with new management and settling lawsuits" despite it at one point being "a shit show of incompetence." Like ICE, the condo has been the site of at least one shooting, in which two people were killed soon after it first opened its doors.

What is the worst condo building in Toronto that has been built in the last 5-10 years?
byu/onlytalksboutblandon intoronto

Also listed were Dundas Square Gardens at 251 Jarvis Street, a five-year-old building in which residents have had to deal with rolling heat outages and other HVAC issues, security concerns, lack of hot water for months, malfunctioning locks and worse.

"Dundas Square Gardens is a serious contender," one person wrote, with others adding that living there is "a nightmare" complete with "black mould, elevators broken every day, pool broken all the time, pipes bursting on the regular, dog sh** in the halls, terrible finishes, bad layouts, appliances that break constantly and A/C that goes down at least twice a month."

Without naming any properties in particular, one person joined the conversation by aptly asserting that "any condo where the bedroom door acts as a window to make it legal" — a feature that is unfortunately far too common in many newer Toronto builds — should constitute it as the worst in the city.

An example of the poor excuse for a "bedroom" that many new condos in Toronto have, with sliding glass doors serving to section a small corner of a unit off. Photo from Canadian Living Realty Inc., Brokerage via condos.ca.

And, unfortunately, as one person pointed out, "let's face it: most tall 'luxury' condo buildings over the last 10-15 years have been garbage," highlighting the "cheap materials, faux luxury finishes, issue-prone elevators, investor-friendly design" and other qualities that abound in too many of the city's newly constructed dwellings.

Pro tip: if you're looking at moving into a condo in the city, make sure to snoop around online to see what horror stories and bad reviews may be out there about a given address.