Toronto City Council votes to establish colour-coded ratings for apartment buildings

Photo shows an example of RentSafe colour-coded signs for apartment buildings. (JoshMatlow.ca)

Toronto City Council has voted in favour of establishing a colour-coded system for apartment buildings in the hopes that it will hold landlords accountable and compel them to keep their building clean, safe and well-maintained.

The motion put forward by Coun. Josh Matlow will see the system integrated into the city’s RentSafeTO program, which ensures building owners and operators meet maintenance standards.

The colour-coded system is modelled after the city’s DineSafe program and would see green, yellow or red signs posted near the entrance of the building.

Red is for serious health and safety violations, yellow for minor infractions and green means the building is in good repair.

“There are going to be signs rolling out over the next year in large, multi-residential buildings, where, if a landlord is doing a good job and they care about their tenants’ well-being, they get a green sign. That’s wonderful. They’re doing a good job,” Matlow said.

“But if you’re a landlord who only sees your tenants as a source of revenue, rather than people whose homes should be healthy and safe, yes, you’re going to get a red sign.”

He added that if the landlord won’t make the fixes, the city will come in and do them and charge the landlord after.

A similar motion failed under former mayor John Tory in 2020 as landlords claimed that the signs would stigmatize tenants. But Matlow and other councillors argued that the system will provide tenants and prospective renters critical information.

“They’ve got rats, they’ve got bedbugs, appliances that aren’t working, mould that has been left there for years by Toronto’s worst landlords,” Matlow said. “Now, we do have very good landlords in this city, but what we’re going to do is have RentSafe colour-coded signs.”

The motion was backed by tenant advocate groups. In his motion, Matlow stated that the current RentSafe system provides little incentive for landlords to make timely repairs.

“There are buildings receiving scores of 70-80 per cent despite having cockroaches, mould, or appliances that don’t work. This is confusing and even infuriating for many tenants. It says that either the city doesn’t know what’s happening in their building or, worse, doesn’t care,” the motion read.

Staff are directed to report back to council in 2026 on the program implementation plan.

With files from Jermaine Wilson