toronto rent

Someone in Toronto is renting out an apartment and saying you can't work from home

If you're still in a work-from-home or hybrid work situation at your job, there are some Toronto apartments that you may come to find are (illegally) off-limits to you during your hunt for a place to live.

One new listing in the city — for a terrifyingly cramped basement room, no less — specifies that prospective tenants are not allowed to work out of their own space if accepted. And, it's not the only one posted with such a rule in recent days.

"Looking for busy tenant (not work from home)," the Kijiji listing for the furnished private room for $800 a month near Liberty Village reads.

"Please respond with full name, age, what you do for a living and who pays you for your service, then I will set a time for you to view."

Though a landlord can't really dictate what it is you do in your home on your own time (unless you're damaging the space, disrupting other tenants or the like), this one may have a bit of a point, because given how dingy and small the unit is, you probably won't want to spend too much time in it.

toronto rent

The room is not fit for anyone with even remote claustrophobia, as it is cramped as heck with a single bed, fridge, microwave, bathroom vanity, desk and chair, dresser, two shelving units and a second chair all within arm's reach. Picture from the Kijiji listing.

At first glance, the tiny lower-level bedroom seems windowless due to how dark it is, the first image showing a single-sized bed with a fridge and microwave within arm's reach on one side — having half of your kitchen in your bedroom is apparently another trend with Toronto rentals — and a bathroom sink within reach on the other (huh?!).

toronto rent

More of the provided furnishings in the small, dark unit. Picture from the Kijiji listing.

The limited space also includes a dresser for clothing storage, mirror, desk and chair all within very close proximity to the bed and entryway. On the other side of the room are two shelving units (one large and one small), a second chair and the aforementioned sink with a small mirror above. Also, the unit's one small window.

The ceilings appear low, as is typical in basements, with some exposed pipes.

toronto rent

Another angle of the room that shows that it does thankfully have a window, but also shows that the space would perhaps be better without half the furniture given its size. Picture from the Kijiji listing.

Though the bedroom inexplicably has a bathroom vanity in it, there is thankfully an actual separate bathroom in the private unit, though it's unclear whether this is shared or private.

And there also might be an entire second room, though the photos don't show much of it aside from the closet space and the owner fails to explain whether this is part of the "shared accommodation" in the title of the ad, or part of the separate space the tenant would have to themselves.

It may indeed be the former, as the closet space is all that's depicted.

toronto rent

Two additional photos show what appears to be a second room, though it is only the closet space on display. It is uncleared if this room is shared accommodation with others in the home or part of the private unit. (The dirty plate on the table in the background really makes the photo.) Picture from the Kijiji listing.

Another listing for a room in a shared apartment that was posted on Facebook Marketplace this week likewise stated that the renter would "have to work outside the house (in the office)."

After it was shared to Reddit and garnered a ton of response, the person reworded the ad to state "preferably work in the office full-time. I work from home full-time and the apartment is quite small. I apologize."

Lead photo by

Kijiji


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