517 Spadina Road Townhouses: A Two-Home Condo in Forest Hill Village

517 Spadina Road is a condominium with exactly two homes, 517 and 517A, registered in 1975 in the middle of Forest Hill. That makes it one of the smallest condo corporations you will find anywhere in Toronto, and it works more like a shared house than a building. If you are looking at it, the documents matter more than the floor plan. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A condominium of two

Most people picture a condo as a tower. Ontario law allows a corporation of any size, and in the 1970s a number of Toronto houses and pairs of townhomes were registered as condominiums so that each half could be owned and sold separately. 517 and 517A Spadina Road is one of them, registered as YCC-196 in March 1975.

I could not find a public record of the builder, an architect or floor plans for these two homes, and condos.ca does not list a manager. So I will not describe sizes, bedroom counts or finishes. Anything a listing says on those points should be checked against the registered plans and an inspection.

What I can tell you is what the format means. You own your home as a unit, the corporation owns or controls the shared parts, and every decision about those shared parts is made by two owners.

How a two-owner corporation actually runs

With two homes, the board is effectively the two owners. That has real upsides: no strangers, no politics, and decisions can be made over a kitchen table. It also has one big risk: if the two owners disagree about a roof, a driveway or a fence, there is no majority to break the tie.

No manager is listed, so this is likely self-managed. Self-managed corporations still have legal duties under the Condominium Act, including keeping records, holding meetings, carrying insurance and maintaining a reserve fund backed by periodic studies. In a corporation this small, those duties sometimes slip, and that is exactly what you need to check.

The declaration sets out who maintains what. In two-home condos it is common for most of each building to be the owner’s responsibility, with only a small shared portion, but the split varies and it is the document, not custom, that decides. Read it before you assume anything about the roof, walls, windows or yard.

Insurance needs a careful look too. Ask what policy the corporation carries, what it covers, what the deductible is, and how that interacts with your own policy. With two owners, a single claim is a much bigger share of the bill.

Renovating and selling inside a two-home condo

Plans change the moment you want to renovate. In a condominium, work that touches the common elements, such as an addition, a new deck, a changed window opening or a new exterior door, usually needs the corporation’s approval, and in Ontario that is often documented in a section 98 agreement registered on title. With two owners, that means your neighbour’s agreement.

If you are buying with a renovation in mind, ask whether either owner has made past alterations and whether they were approved properly. Unapproved past work can become a problem at resale, when the next buyer’s lawyer reviews the status certificate.

Selling later follows the same logic. A buyer will want a clean status certificate, current insurance and a reserve fund study, so a well-kept corporation is not just good housekeeping; it protects your exit.

Forest Hill Village on your doorstep

This stretch of Spadina Road is the heart of lower Forest Hill. The Forest Hill Village shopping area at Spadina and Lonsdale gives you boutiques, a grocer, banks and cafés within an easy walk, which is the main daily advantage of this address.

Forest Hill was its own village from 1923 until it was amalgamated into Toronto in 1967. Its early building rules required architect-designed houses and a tree in the front yard, which is why the surrounding streets are so leafy and why large brick Tudor and Georgian homes dominate. The data panel on this page covers transit, schools and the Walk Score.

Spadina Road itself is a busier street than the side streets behind it, so expect more traffic noise than on a cul-de-sac, and judge it at rush hour before you buy.

Pricing: valuing a home that rarely sells

There were no active listings here when I checked, and with only two homes in the corporation, a sale might come up once in many years. There is no building-level per-square-foot figure I can responsibly give you, and I will not invent one.

In practice, a home like this is valued against Forest Hill semis and small detached houses, and against larger condo townhomes nearby, then adjusted for condition, parking, outdoor space and the state of the corporation’s records. The condo structure can narrow the pool of buyers compared with a freehold of the same size, because some people are wary of sharing a corporation with one neighbour, and that tends to show up in price.

Condos.ca did not publish a fee or what it includes, so I cannot tell you what you would pay each month or what it covers. Get the budget and status certificate before you make any assumption. If you want a broader read of the market, ask me for a building sold report on comparable Forest Hill homes.

Building specifications

Jatin’s honest take on 517 Spadina Road Townhouses

517 Spadina Road Townhouses — frequently asked questions

Looking at Yonge & Eglinton, Davisville and North Toronto more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.