A New Place in the Annex?

Readers of this blog will be aware that last winter we went through a surprising turn of events when our house on Croydon Rd, on the market for a number of months, suddenly sold while we were here in Mexico. The new owners were keen to take up residence there ASAP so, sight unseen (except by my friend, Roz) we leased an apartment on Major St, moving in there just a scant two weeks after our return to Toronto at the end of February. It seems that we are going to be in a similar situation this winter and spring.

All was cosy with our new landlords until they discovered serendipitously that I was plying my trade there. Immediately a major reaction: why had we hidden this fact? I must immediately cease and desist, and so on. It made no difference (especially to the gentleman in question) when we pointed out that this was a legitimate usage of the premises according to the by-laws of the City of Toronto and the Landlord/Tenants Act. Moreover, I had not “hidden” my intentions. It had never occurred to me that I needed to disguise them as I have conducted a private practice in whatever mode of accommodation I have had since 1987. We were threatened with eviction if I did not give them a statement in writing that I would no longer work there. We sent them copies of the relevant Acts covering this eventuality, and, I believe that they consulted a lawyer. After a month or so of unpleasantness, the issue seemed to blow over.

I spoke by phone with our landlady a couple of days ago. She was surprised to hear that we would not return to Toronto until the end of March, the point at which our year-long contract with them expires. Our plan had been to give them rent cheques into the summer and to decide over the spring whether or not to remain. Our options had suddenly become more open by the sale of our condo in Orillia – it will close in early January. I told the lady that I had left more cheques at the house for her to pick up on one of her visits there. She informed me then that if we wanted to stay on that her husband wanted a new contract drawn up and that the rent would be raised. She said that she would talk to her husband and get back to us in a couple of day. We rather expect a new round of unpleasantness is about to ensue and have decided that we will leave our lovely, though by no means perfect, home on Major St as soon as we can find new digs and arrange a move.

This is where you come in, dear friends and neighbours of a Toronto/Annex persuasion: we ask you to keep your eyes and ears attuned to suitable places for us, generally in our present area and of our current size. We are open to renting or to buying, preferably a two or three bedroom place with two washrooms. If the accommodation is a rental apartment or a condo, we would like a balcony (essential for morning contemplation), especially one facing away from a busy street. I have looked on the mls.ca for both rental places and ones for sale in the Annex-ish area. At the moment there is little available, though undoubtedly more will open up as spring comes. But there is nothing like ears to the ground as we often hear about people moving or contemplating moves, even before their places go on the market. OK. You get the idea.

Life goes on here in PV. We have fallen more or less into our usual routines. We plan to go out to a suburb of PV today to investigate used bicycles. From there we will go to a fabric shop out by the marina to select material with which to re-cover our balcony pillows. Yesterday we purchased two small paintings at an exhibit in the restaurant at the front of our building. The exhibit was held by one of the residents here and three other women with whom she shares work space. We are much given to discussions about redecorating our condo. We have inherited all of the furniture, pictures, and objet of the lady who had previously owned our place. Now we have to consider all of it and tailor the space according to our own preferences. But there is no rush for any of this.

I’m going to send this off quickly just to get your imagination going re where I might live next, but will write again soon about other things happening here in the (dare I say it?) winter-free south.