laurenhannah

100% agree with the above poster... a lot of people come over thinking its a lot cheaper than home, but Toronto is definitely not. Also the cost of everything else is more expensive (but transportation!)..Food shopping, clothes, nights out etc. Definitely moving out of Toronto helps though! Unfortunately we enjoying living downtown too much

dbd33

I dunno about that. My daughter moved from Toronto where she owned a house on the Danforth to London where she and her partner rent a smallish apartment in Tower Hamlets. The value of the flat is about four times that of the house and the rent similarly higher than one would pay in Toronto. Cheese and chocolate are more expensive in Toronto but you'd have to eat an awful lot to make up for the difference in property prices.

laurenhannah

The average "day to day" living is way more here.. you obviously haven't done your food shopping in England . Also Tower Hamlets is a little more "central" than living on the Danforth.

dbd33

Not sure what you mean by "central", geographically there's nothing to choose so is it a signifier of something else, for example would you say Regents Park is "central"?

Oakvillian

Well, Regent's Park is only just north of the Euston Road, so fairly central - those lovely Nash terraces on Park Square and up the east side on Cumberland Terrace are probably worth a bob or two to the Crown Estate.

Oh, you mean the other Regent Park? That's pretty central, too - even by your restrictive view of what's "downtown" I think Dundas & Parliament still counts, doesn't it?

dbd33

Dundas and Parliament is really in Toronto but I don't know that one would think of it as "downtown". Estate agents would offer it as Lower Cabbagetown.

rpurdie

We have a cat arriving a few days after we land in TO so we wanted to have a place sorted for that amongst other things. It was difficult not being there, but we spoke to friends about one place we were on the verge of taking, only to be put off by what they had to say about the area being a bit sketchy.

I asked the landlord for more pictures than was on the Craigslist advert and she even offered to walk through taking a video. What helped I think was having a nice detailed explanation of who we were, what we were looking for and the situation we were in. I spoke to a few landlords at first who were - quite rightly - like 'why should I pick you over someone I have actually met, who actually has a job?' so be prepared for lots of rejection.

On the funds, we actually set up Canadian accounts through HSBC in advance, so I was able to show a screen shot of GBP and CAD funds. Just found out HSBC aren't part of Interac E-mail Money Transfer but that gripe is for another thread!

emjaca85

Thanks for all the feedback. We'll definatly be aware of scams, I think coming from a big city helps we'll try and have our wits abouts us. We know it wont be cheaper - we just want a change of scene and were lucky enough to both get WHV.

I've been looking on Craigslist, the areas I have been looking at are st lawrence market/ kings street area and then inbetween and up to cabbage town/ church steet - the whole of that side of Toronto. I have heard people talk about Leslivile and the beaches area so i shall look more closly at that. Did want to be as close to Downtown as possible though idealy

My last day of work today! Sold my car yesterday! its all happening!

emjaca85

Something like this from craigslist looks ok doesnt it? Minimum 6 months lease is great! - especially if that landlord has to go on trust. all inclusive for $1750pm. No sure of the area though. But this is the kinda thing we'll be looking for.

http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/apa/3778768072.html

dbd33

Munro St was an absolute dump in the middle of nowhere; not downtown like the Market area, not a lively inner 'burb like the Beach, an area of unused warehouses and the like. It's now an absolute dump in the middle of nowhere with a couple of shiny new buildings. You could walk up or down a block from there and catch a streetcar (24hrs if you go south) but you'd have to catch that streetcar to go anywhere. I'd have thought that money would get you somewhere around the market from which you could walk to bars, restaurants and whatnot.

" cabbage town/ church steet - the whole of that side of Toronto." Ideal but stay west of the Parkway and check here for specific streets, that side of Toronto varies from very rich to dosshouses. "Leslivile and the beaches". Very nice but you'd likely have to commute by tram; it's not fast and it's not reliable.

This site may be of interest: http://www.bedbugregistry.com/metro/toronto/recent/

Heh, now that I've read the advert for the Munro St. place I'm amused to note that it says the development is extremely close to Gerrard Square but not that Gerrard Square is known locally as the Welfare Mall. The area's population is primarily Vietnamese so the mall is a curious mixture of pound shops, boarded up shops and places selling salted fish and animal parts ones wouldn't know how to eat.

London-England-Lads

Legally as Siouxie say they can not insist on it, but you will come across problems with no Jobs, we put 12 months upfront.

Once you have a signed contract you can if you wish take a claim out via the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board and fill out a T1, this means that everything has to be refunded apart from the first and last (and whatever period you have used to that that point.

emjaca85

LOL haha I street viewed it on google and it looked umm rough... thanks for the area info..

emjaca85

This is interesting but I imagine it would piss off the landlord, and if i needed a reference in the future.........