As Toronto renters continue to grapple with sky-high housing prices, some landlords continue to push the boundaries of what constitutes a livable space, and a recent downtown listing is up there with some of the weirdest listings we’ve ever seen.
This latest “horror rental,” shared to the Slumlords Canada subreddit, is raising eyebrows after showcasing a seemingly decent room for rent near Spadina and Dundas, but with one alarming twist you can’t quite overlook.
While the bedroom appears to be spacious and reasonably clean at first, a closer look at the “window” above the bed frame reveals it’s not a window at all. It’s actually just a printed-out poster of a beach view taped to the wall. Yes, you read that right.
Not the worse I’ve seen, but the fake window is killing me
byu/RaccoonChaos inSlumlordsCanada
Listed for $900 per month, the room is advertised as suitable for a single tenant only. The supposed window, which is a standard safety and mental health requirement in most bedrooms, is actually just a vacation scene straight out of a printer.
As expected, the listing quickly caught fire online, racking up over 2,700 upvotes and over 100 comments. Reddit users were rightfully both horrified and amused by the perplexing listing.
“Against the fire code. These people need to be fined. And bet they aren’t reporting the rent as income,” one user wrote.
“I’d go to see it, then when I’m there try as hard as I can to physically go through that window,” another joked. “You know, to test whether it can be used as a fire escape, of course.”
Aside from the jokes, the listing raised some serious questions about safety and regulation enforcement, and sadly, this isn’t an isolated incident. Over the past few years, tenants across Ontario have reported being offered everything from mattresses wedged above staircases, to bunk-bed-lined shared rooms, to “bedroom partitions” made from tarps and shower curtains, often at exorbitant prices.
