I was just reading fellow basement-dweller/aspiring-above-ground renter Jamie's blog, and my curiousity was piqued by a reference he made to a property in the Yonge and St Clair area. He said it was owned by one of Toronto's "most notorious slumlord families". So, natch, I just had to use my librarian powers to find out who that was, because I don't want to be renting from them if I can help it.
So I Googled ' "slumlord" toronto' and got my answer in a split-second - well, the answer according to Google, at any rate. It's the Wynn family. They've been in the property biz since the 1960s. You can read about some of their buildings here and here. You can visit their website here.
Here is some information potential apartment-seekers might be interested in: the Wynns own the apartment buildings at 103 and 105 West Lodge Avenue in Toronto. These buildings have often been in the news, and it's never been good news. Rats, roaches, repairs not done, no reliable heat or hot water, huge rent hikes and most recently, grow-ops. This last item, to be fair, is not the doing of the landlords, but still, it makes you wonder what kind of business they're running if they can't keep on top of stuff like this?
When a tenant in the Yonge-St Clair building, 125 Lawton Blvd, started a tenant's association in order to advocate for her fellow tenants, the Wynns harassed her with long letters (at least one of which threatened eviction) and labelled her "pathological".
Here's another fact: their commercial holdings include the Waverly Hotel, a notorious dive, albeit one that appears to be cleaning up its act - I think there was a Toronto Star article about this a couple of months ago.
Anyway, I don't know about you all, but I will not be looking into a Wynn rental property any time soon.
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