Hello;
I am landing in Toronto next month. I have been hearing about basement apartments in Toronto or somewhere else....somthing that I never heared about when I lived for 7 years in USA.
Can anyone help me to know what are the basement apts. and how are they found? and how much do they cost a month?.....and are they convenient? and what type of people resort to renting the basement apartments? I appreciate any assistance
Thank You

Cold and Damp, with limited light in the winter when the snow has built up around the windows.

Also at ground level , so easy pickings for burglars.

Hmmm, I can see why they are cheep.

Lets not forget too, that if you are a light sleeper you can HEAR every single footstep taken above!! Also, if you are into gossip, you can stand under people above you and hear every word they say...sometimes, when it's about you, its heartbreaking!!

They aren't too bad. I rented two of them and actually liked it. Rent usually low, I was paying 250 CN/month for one, but that one was fairly cheap. Also if you look into a town with college/univ, expect to pay a little more.

Lots of privacy and yes, the low windows/burglary can come into play, but if you are like some of us PR applicants who look at e-client, these forums, and check the mailbox every 30 minutes, then no burglar is generally going to come around when the person is home all the time

hi, lean! well, i can speak from 1st hand experience here, as we stayed in a b/ment apartment since we landed in canada. ours was a 2 bedroom one, so we were paying around $900 Canadian per mth. ours was not damp at all, perfectly warm and had huge windows to let in as much light and air as possible. yes, its true, you can hear every step upstairs, but i never heard any gossip! sure, if someone is shouting at athe top of their lungs then yes, you will hear them, but not otherwise. just buy the local rag (local newspaper!) and you'll find hundreds of them advertised. mind you, most of them are illegal, ie the owners dont usually have the permission of the local authority to rent these out, so i dont think any of the usual laws, such as tenancy rights, rent tribunals etc. can apply to these. that said, if you have just arrived, the low cost is justified. and you only pay the rent, no bills at all apart from your own cable tv and telephone!! hope this helps....

Since you are coming to Toronto, expect to pay at least $700 per month for a 1 bedroom plus you have to pay for the power, gas, phone, etc. as it likely won't be included. These usually come with lots of problems like noise, availability of parking, nosy landlords, etc. I pass one place regularly that seems to come up for rent again every 3 months or so which probably means it has major problems that nobody can live with long. We have a friend who rents a 1 bedroom basement apartment in Etobicoke (not so great part of Toronto) and she pays $750/month for it plus about $200/month for power, water, and gas. She complains constantly about how cold it is, how noisy the neighbors are (2 more apartments above on the 1st and 2nd floors), and how horrible the land lady is (comes in unexpectedly, very pushy about the rent, won't fix broken things quickly, in general just hard to deal with). She stays there because it is cheap, on a bus route, and it is such a pain to move.

To find one, just look in the classified section of the newspaper and you will find tons of them listed. You can look at the online version, but many won't be there as it costs extra to be listed online as well as in the paper.
http://www.torontostarclassifieds.co...tegory=RENTALS
Mostly they will be mixed in with Apartments Unfurnished and once you pick an area you can search by price, keyword, etc.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend living in a basement apartment. I rented one in the US years ago, and agree with all the negative things mentioned above. Try craigslist.org instead for roommate and sublet info.

If you are determined to find a basement, a good source of information may also be local ethnic community newspapers.

Also, I meant to mention this in my first post, I think its against the law for most of them, cause most all of the basements have only one exit and for safety reasons...in case of fire...there has to be two exits. That's what I was told by someone who was renting one, and they only had the normal stairway leading up from the basement. Oh well, just something to think about.

regarding fire exits, most landlords will not be so silly as to not provide the necessary fire exits etc, as they will be liable to prosecution should something go wrong!
the apartment we stayed in had 2 exits, smoke alarm, carbon m/oxide alarm, etc.
as for availability of apartments, its true that a lot of them are advertised by ethnic landlords, but that is not 100% trues--many indigenous canadians also rent out their basements for valuable income reasons. it all comes down to what you are willing to pay, the area, etc. you can get absolute dives for around $700, and for $850 upwards, you can better standard stuff!

They are also good for temporary accomodation, as they can often be booked for short-term rental, and may even be furnished.

We stayed in one in Edmonton on a B&B basis, but only for one night It was very inexpensive and comfortable, and the owners really friendly. It was a "walk-out" basement with its own exit to the garden.

Funny I've just had a convo today with a newbie at work (wow doesn't it feel good to type that one ) who said the same things. She lives in a basement flat and has terrible damp problems at the moment together with flooding. There is a stairway right outside and the folks who live there are terribly heavy footed at all times of the day and night. She also mentioned the lack of sound insulation. On the positive side she did say that she didn't need aircon...only a fan in the summer but that was the only positive thing she said.