No heat/low heat complaints for commercial properties are not covered under the municipal regulations. Refer to the Ministry of Labour for heat complaints in commercial properties.The bylaw ONLY applies to residential properties. Chapter 629 - 38 Heating and air conditioning (full details are available on the City of Toronto website: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/1184_629.pdf ) A. Every heating and air-conditioning system or unit shall be kept in good repair and maintained in good working condition at all times relevant to the operation of that system. G. All air conditioners and other water-cooled equipment shall be equipped with proper devices for the prevention of condensation drainage or discharge onto sidewalks, walkways, driveways and entrance areas or other areas used for pedestrian or vehicular traffic. H. The devices provided under Subsection G shall be configured so as not to cause damage to the walls or foundations or other parts of a building. No building permit is required to install a window air conditioner in a rental unit or privately owned home, but tenants should consult their lease agreement to determine if they are permitted in their units.

A landlord is responsible for providing heat to a residential dwelling at a minimum of 21 degrees Celsius between September 15 and June 1 of each year. Note: the landlord can adjust the heating and cooling of the building to meet the minimum temperature of 21 degrees Celsius. If the heating/ventilation system is out of service and currently being repaired/maintained, this is NOT a violation and no investigation is required. If you have concerns about the heating or cooling in your rental unit, please speak to your landlord or property manager. You should make your request in writing to the landlord by completing a work order or a Standard Maintenance Request. The Heating By-law is not applicable to common areas (hallways, stairwells, building entrances, etc). The By-law only applies to the dwelling unit. If there is heating equipment in common areas, so long as the equipment is in good working order (Property Standards By-law requirement), there is no minimum temperature that applies to these areas.

If the issue is not addressed within a reasonable amount of time, you can contact 311 to file a complaint. A service request will be submitted for investigation by Municipal Licensing & Standards. CondominiumsIf the condo unit is owner occupied Municipal Licensing & Standards (ML&S) will NOT investigate a complaint about the condition of that unit.deals on window ac units If you are a tenant in a condo unit, contact the condo unit owner.how much a ac unit cost If you are a condominium unit owner and the entire condo building has no heat, contact your condominium property manager first. how to build a ac unitIf the situation is not resolved within a reasonable period of time, contact 311 to submit a service request for investigation by Municipal Licensing & Standards.

Note: Under Toronto Municipal Code Chpt 497 - Heating - both a condo unit owners or condo property managers can be considered as "landlords" provided they collect rent or lease out the unit and are therfore subject to prosecution. Air conditioning (maximum temperatures)Air Conditioning should go on, if provided/supplied by the property owner, from June 2nd to Sept. 14th to maintain an indoor temperature of not more than 26 degrees Celsius. Municipal Licensing & Standards is unable to take any action outside of these dates. If an air conditioner is broken, a landlord is required to either fix it or replace it. There is no requirement for a landlord to install an air conditioner. For issues regarding request from landlord to tenant to remove an a/c unit, tenant should check lease agreement to see if any restrictions exist. This issue doesn't fall under Property Standards bylaw. Note: the landlord can adjust the heating and cooling of the building to meet the minimum temperature of 21 degrees Celsius.

If you have concerns about air conditioning in your rental unit, please speak to your landlord or property manager. Installation of air conditioning units - please contact your district Toronto Building zoning office for installation requirements. Complaints pertaining to no/low heat for commercial properties should be referred to the Ministry of Labour under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.What can you make with old plastic bottles? … an air-conditioning unit? Believe it or not, you can. When inventor Ashis Paul came up with an innovative way to draw cool air into homes using plastic bottles, his whole company got on board to help teach people living in rural Bangledesh to do the same. Since February this year, they’ve helped people to install these units-- which don’t need electricity to function-- in more than 25,000 households in developing areas of the country. “Most people live in tin huts… in the summer, it’s like being in sauna in the Sahara”

Jaiyyanul Huq is a creative director with the Grey Group, the advertising company that spearheaded this social project. We are a flood-prone nation, so in rural Bangladesh, most people build their homes out of tin, instead of mud. About 70% of Bangladesh's population lives in these homes. But the problem with these tin huts is that they get unbearably hot in the summer, especially in northern and central Bangladesh. I’ve been in these huts. It’s like being in a sauna in the Sahara. One of our creative supervisors, Ashis Paul, started thinking about ways to bring relief to these people. He was turning it over in his mind when one day, he overheard his daughter’s physics tutor explaining to her how gas cools when it expands quickly. Ashis has an "inventor" mentality and he’s always been fascinated by science. So, he started experimenting. He told us about his idea of making an air-conditioner out of plastic bottles. The simplicity of the Eco-Cooler is incredible.

To make an Eco-Cooler, you cut plastic bottles in half and then mount them on a board. Then, you place the board over a window, with the bottlenecks facing towards the inside of the house. The change in pressure that occurs when air enters the wider part of the bottle and comes out through the bottleneck cools the air. It seems uncanny, but the principle is simple. Blow on your hand with your mouth wide open. The air feels hot, doesn’t it? Now, blow on your hand with your lips pursed. It feels like a cool breeze. The Eco-Cooler doesn’t require any electricity to function! "We finalised it just as the weather was getting hot" The Eco-Cooler can decrease the temperature by 5°C immediately. When it goes from 30°C to 25°C, I can tell you that it makes a difference. The Grey group decided to take it on as a pro-bono project. We like to give back -- it’s core to our company. We decided to make and distribute these units for free. We designed the first prototype in March last year and finally finalised it at the end of February this year.