110 Palmerston Avenue: A Two-Unit Condo Built to Look Like a Semi

From the sidewalk, 110 Palmerston looks like a pair of new semi-detached houses on a Victorian street near Dundas West. Legally, it is a two-unit condominium with its own corporation and no manager. That structure is the most important thing to understand before you buy either half. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Two houses, one condominium corporation

The two homes are addressed 110A and 110B. When they have been marketed for sale, they have been described as modern three-storey homes styled as a semi-detached pair, with a finished lower level, rather than as condo apartments. Condos.ca records the property as a two-unit condominium, which is the legal reality.

Builders sometimes use a condominium plan when a lot cannot easily be severed into two freehold parcels. The buyer gets something that lives like a house, but owns it as a condo unit plus a share of common elements, and pays a monthly fee to a corporation of two owners.

That is not a reason to avoid it. It is a reason to read the declaration carefully. The declaration decides who owns and maintains the roof, the exterior walls, the shared wall between the homes, the yards, the garages and the laneway access, and how costs for each are split between the two owners.

What the homes are like inside

Listing material for the homes has described about 2,000 to 2,500 square feet of living space over three floors and a finished lower level, with three bedrooms plus a flexible room, three bathrooms and nine-foot ceilings. One listing credited the design to Blue Lion. I would treat these as marketing descriptions and verify them in person.

The layout described is a typical modern semi: an open kitchen, living and dining floor that walks out to the garden, two bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor, and a primary suite with a walk-in closet and ensuite on the third, with laundry and a powder room below.

Outdoor space is a private rear garden with a gas line for a barbecue, and parking is a garage at the back reached from the laneway. In this part of the city, a garage and a yard on a property built in the last decade is a rare combination. Confirm whether the garden and garage are part of your unit or exclusive-use common elements, because that changes who pays for them.

Because the homes date from around 2015, you are not buying fifty-year-old wiring or a tired roof. You are buying a decade-old house, which is the stage where the first small maintenance items show up: caulking, exterior sealants, appliance replacements and a first proper look at the roof. None of that is unusual, but in a two-unit condo, make sure you know whose budget it comes from.

Self-managed with two owners

Condos.ca lists the corporation as self-managed. With two owners, that is almost always the case. One listing described the monthly fee as covering common elements and the reserve fund, which is what you would expect from a corporation this small.

The practical questions are simple but important. Does the corporation have its own bank account, insurance policy and reserve fund study? Are annual general meetings actually held and minuted? Who files the paperwork? A two-unit corporation that has kept good records is straightforward. One that has not is a headache for buyers, lenders and insurers.

Insurance deserves its own conversation. In a condominium, the corporation normally insures the building itself, and each owner insures their unit’s improvements, contents and liability. With two owners and one building, find out what the corporation’s policy covers, what the deductible is, and which owner pays it when something goes wrong on one side. Your own insurer will want to see that policy before binding coverage.

Ask whether the two owners get along and how decisions are made when they disagree. In a two-unit condo, there is no third vote to break a tie, so the declaration and bylaws should say how deadlocks are handled. Read them before you make an offer, not after.

Palmerston Avenue near Dundas West

Palmerston Avenue south of College is a residential street of older houses, typical of the side streets in this part of the city, many from the early 1900s. A pair of modern homes stands out, which some buyers like and others do not.

Dundas West is a short walk, with restaurants, cafés and shops, and Trinity Bellwoods Park is a few blocks to the west. Little Italy’s College Street strip is north. You are close to everything that makes this part of the city attractive, while living on a quiet street.

Transit, schools and nearby food and parks are in the data panel on this page.

How to think about price here

With two units and no active listings at the time of writing, there is no building average to quote, and condos.ca does not publish one. A sale here happens rarely and is priced individually.

The right comparables are modern semi-detached and newer freehold homes in Trinity-Bellwoods and Little Italy of a similar size, with parking. Then adjust for the condo structure. Some buyers and lenders treat a two-unit condo the same as a freehold semi; others want a discount for the shared corporation and the monthly fee. That gap is real, and it should be in your offer.

If you own one of these homes or are thinking of buying, I can pull recent comparable sales for this pocket. Request them through the building sold report.

Building specifications

Jatin’s honest take on 110 Palmerston Avenue

110 Palmerston Avenue — frequently asked questions

Looking at Queen West, Trinity-Bellwoods, Kensington and Little Italy more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.