170 Markham Street Townhomes: A Two-Unit Condo Near Dundas West

170 Markham Street is about as small as a Toronto condominium gets. It is a two-unit townhouse corporation, registered in 2014, on a residential street one block west of Bathurst near Dundas. You get a house-style home on a Victorian street, and you share the building’s decisions and costs with one neighbour, which is the part most buyers underestimate. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Two homes, one corporation

Condos.ca lists two units at this address, in a building of townhouse type, with the corporation registered in June 2014. A two-unit condominium is usually a pair of new or rebuilt homes, often a semi-detached pair or a front-and-back arrangement, that a builder registered as a condominium so each could be sold separately.

The public record does not name a developer or an architect, and I could not find a planning or press record for the project. That is normal for small infill. It also means the building itself, and the condominium documents, are your only real evidence of how it was built.

What you are buying is closer to a house than an apartment. There is no lobby, no concierge, no shared gym and no management office. There is a roof, a foundation, an exterior and possibly some shared land, and two owners responsible for all of it.

How a two-owner corporation actually works

A condominium corporation still has to do everything the law requires, whatever its size: hold insurance, keep records, pass a budget, maintain a reserve fund and have a reserve fund study done on schedule. With two units, that board is effectively the two owners, and any decision needs both of them to cooperate.

When the two owners get along and keep the paperwork current, this structure works well and costs little. When they do not, there is no third vote to break a tie. Before you buy, it is worth meeting the other owner if you can, and asking how decisions have been made so far.

No property manager is recorded. Ask whether the corporation uses a manager or a bookkeeper at all, who holds the bank account and the insurance policy, and whether the reserve fund study has been updated since registration. In a corporation this small, those answers matter more than any finish inside the unit.

Read the declaration closely. It sets out which parts are your unit, which are common elements and which are exclusive-use common elements, such as a yard, a roof deck or a parking pad. That split decides who pays when a roof, a wall or a basement needs work.

Buying it is not the same as buying a semi

On paper this is a condominium, and that changes the purchase in ways a freehold buyer may not expect. Your offer should be conditional on a review of the status certificate, which the corporation must provide on request and which shows the common expense, the reserve fund balance, the budget and any known issues.

Insurance works differently too. The corporation insures the building as a whole, and you insure your own contents, improvements and liability with a condominium unit policy. Check the corporation’s deductible and whether the declaration or bylaws pass it on to the owner whose unit caused a claim, because in a two-unit building a single water leak can be a large share of the year’s budget.

Renovation is another difference. Changes that touch the exterior, the roof, the structure or any common element usually need the corporation’s approval, which here means the other owner’s approval. If you plan to add a deck, change windows or dig out a basement, find out what the documents allow before you firm up.

None of this is a reason to avoid the building. It is a reason to have a lawyer who reads condominium documents, not just a house closing, and to budget time for the review.

Markham Street at the Dundas end

Markham Street runs north from Queen Street West, one block west of Bathurst, and between Queen and College it is a quiet, one-way residential street of two-storey semi-detached and row houses, many Victorian or Edwardian and few of them identical. A pair of newer townhomes here sits inside that pattern rather than standing out from it.

Near Dundas, two-storey buildings along the main street hold restaurants and a brewery, and the Kensington Market, Trinity Bellwoods and Little Italy pockets are all within an easy walk. Further north, at Bloor, the former Mirvish Village is being rebuilt by Westbank with new apartment towers, which is the biggest change on the street in decades.

Parking on streets like this is mostly on-street or in a rear lane, so confirm whether either unit has a legal parking space before you assume one. Transit, schools and nearby parks are shown in the data panel on this page.

Pricing a home that rarely trades

There were no active listings when I checked, and with only two units there is no meaningful building average per square foot. Any single past sale would describe one home, not the building.

The useful comparables are freehold semis and row houses on Markham, Palmerston, Euclid and the streets around Bathurst and Dundas, then other small condominium townhomes nearby. Adjust for size, parking, outdoor space and the fact that the corporation, not you alone, insures and maintains the shared parts.

Fee inclusions are not recorded publicly. Ask for the budget, the monthly common expense for the unit and the utility bills, since in a building like this most utilities are likely to be separately metered. My building sold report can pull aggregate trades for the area.

Building specifications

Jatin’s honest take on 170 Markham Street Townhomes

170 Markham Street Townhomes — 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.