USEFUL DOCUMENTS
Looking west along Front Street from slightly east of the New Town of York, probably taken from or near the J & J Taylor Safe Works at Front and Frederick Streets. The photograph dates from between 1890 and 1920 - when the railway tracks were elevated and moved slightly further south.
The white building on the right, at the NW corner of Front Street and George Street, is the Royal Canadian Hotel, seen again in the photograph on the "Local Links" page.
The large building running south of Front Street on the west side of George Street is the warehouse of John Hallam (1833-1900) who dealt in hides, sheepskins, wool and leather. Hallam was a Toronto Alderman and a strong supporter of public libraries.
This is Toronto (Canada West) in 1854, two years before the railway arrived. The broad street is Front Street, then called Palace Street, and you can see St James Cathedral and St Lawrence Hall.
The painter (Edwin Whitefield) painted this watercolour from the roof of the jail (the Home District Gaol) at Front and Berkeley.
This was formerly the site of the First Parliament building of what is now Ontario.
Taylor's Wharf is the second closest wharf and was at the foot of Frederick and George Streets.
By comparison, the painting below by Elizabeth Hale dates from 1804 and is facing east. The white building in the foreground is, it is said, Cooper's Coffee House that was on Jarvis Street just north of what is now Front Street.
This picture was apparently based on one by Edward Walsh painted in 1803. Available at: http://www.clements.umich.edu/exhibits/online/1812bicentennial/cases/c11/11-walsh-york.jpg
Though many of the documents which the Board or the Property Manager distribute to Owners and Residents are of only transitory value, some may need to be referred to over a longer period of time. These, and some other factual information, can be accessed as pdf documents from the links on this page and elsewhere on this website. If you have difficulties, please Contact the webmaster
SWIMMING POOL DISCUSSIONS
In February 2024, the Board initiated a discussion on the swimming pool; to date several documents have been distributed to Owners. It should be noted that the situation, and our understanding of it, is evolving so the most recent documents may have updated or corrected information.
Swimming Pool to Owners (Updated to March 10th)
Update Report to Owners (March 15th)
Invitation to Owner Town Hall (April 12th)
Reserve Fund background. May 2, 2024
The Access for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) requires all Ontario 'businesses" to develop "Customer Services Plans". The Board of MTCC 573 approved our Plan in March 2012 and re-affirmed this in 2020.
Renovations and alterations to residential Units at the New Town of York are governed by various Rules and official Alteration and Renovation Agreements must be completed by owners and approved by the Board before any work starts. The Agreement is on the Useful Forms page of this website. This document attempts to explain these Agreements and our Rules to owners and contractors so that projects can go smoothly. We also have a document ("Who Owns What") that attempts to lay out where the responsibility lies between the Corporation and the Unit owner regarding repairs and replacements, The "Rules for Contractors", which is sent to those with approved renovations, should be brought to the attention of all Unit contractors. Both these documents are available on request.
The Corporation has most of the original plans of the building that can, sometimes, be helpful in locating ducts, pipes and cables. For additional details, please see PLANS, below.
In 2008 we were required, by law, to have an asbestos survey of 135 George South. The quantities of asbestos found were negligible. A brief summary of the Report is available through the link above.
Audited accounts
The audited accounts of our Corporation are presented to the Annual General Meeting each year by the Corporation's auditor. The accounts of the last few years are accessible from the links below.
2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021
Board Report
Each year at the Corporation's Annual General Meeting, the Board presents an annual report. The most recent are available below:
Budget
The Board approves the Budget each year, normally in January - our fiscal year starts March 1. The Budgets for the current and several previous fiscal years are accessible from the links below.
2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025
In 1990 the Board obtained a legal opinion confirming that the owners of the 36 Units having fireplaces are responsible for maintaining these and the chimneys and flues associated with them. In 2011 it was determined that the existing flues were no longer up to Code and owners were given the option of either repairing or sealed them; after further investigation, all were sealed by their owners. If a Unit owner wishes to reopen their flue they will require Board permission, an Agreement under Section 98 of the Condominium Act and permission from owners 'vertically adjacent' to them. No owners have attempted to re-open the flue serving their Unit and in 2021, during the building's re-roofing, the 'chimney boxes' on the roof were properly sealed and waterproofed . Should a Unit owner ever be given permission to re-open a flue in the future, the owner of any Unit with a working flue will be required to submit annual WETT inspection reports to ensure it is maintained to Fire Code standards.
Electric Vehicle Charging System
In 2022 the Corporation installed an Electric Vehicle Charging System (EVCS). Under the Act, Owners who wish to participate in it are obliged to sign a legal Agreement; these Agreements are then registered on Unit title. To be as efficient and inexpensive as possible for Owners, the 2022 participants, 37 of our 51 Units, all signed a "bulk Agreement" - which is registered on these Unit titles as Instrument AT6061216. Subsequent participants will sign an individual version of the Agreement (the changes are editorial) and a copy of the standard Agreement can be consulted at this link. A copy of our EVCS Policy is available HERE.
Emergency and security policies
The Board has prepared a compilation of our most important policies on security and emergencies. It is available from the link above.
Under the Condominium Act the Board must enforce the Declaration, By-Laws and Rules of our Corporation. Enforcement is, in general, based on owner or resident complaints or observation of behaviour (noise etc) that clearly affects other residents or the Corporation's property. The Board has adopted an enforcement policy, it can be downloaded from the link above.
In May 2012 the Board approved a Filming Policy for MTCC 573; it was updated in March 2018.
Under the Fire Code all buildings like ours must have a Fire Safety Plan (FSP), it has sections of particular interest to owners and residents. These Plans are filed with and approved by the Toronto Fire Service and are available to them in the large white FSP Box in the outer lobby. The Plan gives details of our emergency equipment and locations.
As the City charges to collect garbage but does not charge for pick-up of recycling, organic waste or bulk items, and to protect our environment, residents are STRONGLY urged to try to reduce the 'landfill garbage' put down the chute. The lists of materials which can be accepted for recycling change over time and are posted in the garbage chute rooms on each floor and can be found on the City website.
As required by the Employment Standards Act, the Corporation has adopted a health and safety policy.
Under the Act, a Corporation is responsible for insuring the Common Elements and the "Standard Unit" as described in By-Law #6. The annual insurance certificate can be accessed from the link below. The valuation of the building for insurance purposes is monitored by a property valuation company and changes annually. Owners (and Tenants) are reminded that they should have adequate insurance to cover replacing or repairing any 'Unit improvements' made since the Unit was built (1982) (including all flooring) and, of course all personal property and have liability coverage and coverage for the deductible on the Corporation’s master insurance policy for which an Owner may be responsible.
Insurance Certificate for 2024
Under the Condominium Act the Corporation should have a written 'investment plan'.
Many owners occasionally need to provide access to their Units for realtors, contractors or others. We strongly discourage the use of lock-boxes outside the building as these are very insecure and can easily be opened and the fobs (and Unit keys) used by thieves. If you need a lock-box, please look at our policy - from the link above.
This document consolidates information about moving in or out of our building and explains how to connect (and disconnect) to the Bell internet and Fibe TV services.
Under the Condominium Act the Corporation must maintain a Register of Owners and, for emergency purposes, the Corporation must know who is actually residing in the building ('registered residents'). Use the Forms on our Useful Forms Page to keep us informed. (There are separate Forms for Resident and Non-Resident Owners.)
Under the Condominium Act, we are permitted to use only email to communicate to both Owners and Tenants and this is our standard practice. If an Owner requires official Corporation documents on paper, a written request must be sent to the Corporation at our Address for Service (MTCC 573 c/o Royale Grande Property Management, 235 Yorkland Blvd. Suite # 1001, Toronto, M2J 4Y8. We will only use email to communicate with tenants or owners on building activities.
Periodic Information Certificate (PIC)
Under the Condominium Act a Corporation must send a minimum of two PICs a year. One after the 1st Quarter of our fiscal year (March-May) and one after the 3rd Quarter (September-November). The most recent PIC that has been sent to owners at MTCC 573 can be found below; the other mandatory documents (latest annual budget and the current Insurance Certificate) are also available from links on this page.
The Corporation has a complete set of "Survey Plans" of our building. These are registered in the Land Registry Office and show Unit Boundaries, they are used in conjunction with the written description in the Declaration. We also have most of the 'as built' plans from the City of Toronto but it should be noted that they do not always reflect what was actually built! (For example, the dryer stacks were not built with clean-out access.) Of course, none of the 'as built' Plans show any subsequent changes. All the plans that we own have been scanned as pdf files and can be consulted through THIS PAGE
The Corporation has a written privacy policy concerning our use of any personal information that we collect: (Privacy Policy for the Collection, Use, Disclosure and Security of Personal Information). A copy is available from the link above.
Under the Condominium Act every condominium corporation must have a Reserve Fund Study (RFS) conducted by a qualified person; these studies need to be updated at least every three years. Our most recent RFS was conducted in late 2023 and is accessible from the link above or HERE.
Right of way
In the Declaration of MTCC 573, "Schedule A, Description of Land", there is reference to a Right of Way over our property. This concerns the pedestrian passageway that runs on the east side of our building between Front Street East and Taylor's Wharf Lane. There are two legal document concerning this, both registered under the Land Titles Act. In essence, this walkway must remain accessible to the owners of the property to our east, 145 Front Street East. It is freely available to anyone except in winter when it is chained off as a security measure.
Document 842247 Document 842249
Sales brochures
In 1981, when Units at the New Town of York were initially being sold, the developer produced brochures for each type of Unit (01-06) and an outline of the Commercial Unit. These original sales brochures, which describe the options available, are available from the links below. There is also a 1979 pre-sales 'advertorial' from the Toronto Star about the planned building reproduced on the Introduction page of this website.
01 Units 02 Units 03 Units 04 Units 05 Units 06 Units
Commercial Unit General Brochure
In 2017 the Board documented our Unit access and Unit key security policy, it is available from the link above.
Unit size
The total size of our building is approximately 119,000 sq ft and the size and layout of residential Units at the New Town of York varies. The size of Units is not consistently stated in documents, such as those from realtors and the figures can include or exclude 'non-usable space' inside Units (such things as the plumbing and ventilation shafts.)
The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), who determine the property values for real estate taxes in Ontario, give the following square footage and these are probably definitive. According to MPAC the 01 set is 1331 sq ft, the 02 set is 1472 sq ft, the 03 set is 1589 sq ft, the 04 set is 1619 sq ft, the 05 set is 1620 sq ft and the 06 set is 1295 sq ft. In the initial sales brochures (see copies below) for the New Town York the sizes were given as: 01 set 1221 sq ft, 02 set 1407 sq ft, 03 set 1523 sq ft, 04 set 1535 sq ft, 05 set 1491 sq ft and 06 set 1195 sq ft. Based on the MPAC figures, the average size of a Unit is about 1480 sq ft but it should be noted that the monthly maintenance fees for the 51 residential units at MTCC 573 are standard and are not based on square footage. The commercial unit pays a higher percentage of the budget.
All Units except the 06 "set" were built with two bedrooms and, though there are minor variations, Unit layouts are fairly standardised for each "set" of Units. The standard layouts are shown in the initial brochures, above. It should be noted that only the Units on floors 5-10 have fireplaces and flues, the size of which increases as one gets higher in the building, due to the increased number of flues passing through the Unit. (These flues remain, though all fireplaces and flues have been sealed since 2011 because they failed to pass WETT inspections.)
The area (in square feet) quoted for the Commercial Unit - which is sub-divided into 5 units - vary between the Sales Brochure (see above) to the architectural plans. The Sales Brochure says A=1269 sq ft, B=1002 sq ft, C=1460 sq ft, D=1306 sq ft and E=1305 sq ft. The architectural plans say A=1231 sq ft, B=951 sq ft, C=1407 sq ft, D=1289 sq ft and E=1167 sq ft. The architectural plans also note that the areas under the arcade along Front Street for each as: A=257 sq ft, B=180 sq ft C=180 sq ft, D=180 sq ft and E=245 sq ft. Until 2010 Units D and E had been merged (as a convenience store) but in 2010, the commercial owner reduced size of convenience store to approximately the size of Unit E and merged Units C and D into one Unit (subsequently leasing this 'double unit' to a pet food store.)
Leaks of one sort or another are an unfortunate fact of life in high-rise buildings and they can originate from common element pipes and equipment or Unit pipes and equipment. No matter where they originate, it is important to react to them quickly to minimise damage; the Corporation therefore normally takes charge of the initial response. This document outlines our policy and procedures and explains how any repair costs are apportioned.
Under various Ontario statutes the Corporation is obliged to have a "Workplace Violence, Harassment and Discrimination Policy"; the Board adopted one in November 2015, it can be accessed through the link above.
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The government of Ontario has a website that answers some common questions about condominiums.
See: http://www.ontario.ca/search/consumer-protection-when-buying-condo
Additional information is available from the Condominium Authority of Ontario.