Two towers, one block apart: how to compare apartment buildings before you sign

You've narrowed it down to two apartments in the same neighbourhood. The rent is similar. The listings both say "well maintained." How do you actually choose?

The City publishes enough about every large rental building to make the comparison in about ten minutes. Here's the method, using two real towers on the same stretch of Toronto Centre as an example.

Step 1: Start with the RentSafeTO score

Buildings with 3+ storeys or 10+ units are evaluated by the City and scored out of 100 (see RentSafeTO building evaluations, explained).

• 275 Bleecker St — 21 storeys, 301 units, built 1969. Score: 92, evaluated June 30, 2025.
• 200 Wellesley St E — 29 storeys, 719 units, built 1970. Score: 81, evaluated November 13, 2025.

Both are older concrete towers a few minutes apart, and both score respectably. Eleven points is a real gap, though, so the next question is where the points were lost.

Step 2: Read the sub-scores, not just the total

Each category is scored 0–3. At 200 Wellesley, most categories scored a 3, but several common-area items scored a 1: interior hallway walls and ceilings, stairwell steps and walls, building cleanliness, parking areas, and chute rooms. Elevator maintenance, pest control logs, and the tenant service request log all scored 3.

At 275 Bleecker, the weakest items were mostly 2s: hallways, stairwell finishes, lobby walls, and the exterior receptacle area.

Why this matters: a building that loses points on hallway paint is a different proposition from one that loses points on pests or elevators. Check the categories that affect you.

Step 3: Check the bylaw record, then read it carefully

Pull each address's bylaw investigations. Here the pair looks very different on paper:

• 275 Bleecker: 117 investigations on file, 5 currently active, 0 open orders.
• 200 Wellesley: 39 investigations on file, 4 currently active, 0 open orders.

It would be easy to read that as "Bleecker is the problem building." That would be a mistake, and it's the most common one people make:

• Raw counts depend on history and on how many tenants call 311. Investigations are often complaint-driven, so a record can reflect an engaged tenant base as much as a neglectful landlord.
• Look at what the complaints were about and whether they were resolved.
• Look at what's active now. Four or five open files in a 300–700 unit building is a different story from a long list of unresolved ones.
• Zero open orders at both addresses is the signal that matters most: no outstanding City order against the owner.

Neither record tells you what's going on inside a specific unit. Treat them as a way to ask better questions, not as a verdict.

A quick comparison checklist

• Total score and the date of the last evaluation (newer is better).
• Sub-scores for pests, elevators, security, and the categories you care about.
• Open orders: any at all is worth asking the landlord about.
• Active investigations, and whether the same complaint keeps recurring.
• Whether the building is in the program at all. Smaller buildings and many condo rentals aren't, and then there is no score to compare.

Run the comparison yourself

Look up each building on the building report card, then check its bylaw investigations and orders. For a broader walkthrough of reading a landlord's record, see how to check a landlord's record before you rent.

Data: PropertyMonitorTO, from the City of Toronto's Apartment Building Evaluation (RentSafeTO) and bylaw investigation open data. Verify: 275 Bleecker St, 200 Wellesley St E. Figures reflect the records at the time of writing. These two buildings are used as examples only, and not as a judgment of either owner.