Tangle Briarway Townhouses: 1983 Three-Storey Condo Towns West of Leslie

Tangle Briarway is a 1983 condominium townhouse complex tucked into the east side of Bayview Village, a decade younger than the Wild Briarway townhouses around the corner. The homes are taller and more house-like than most buyers expect from a condo, and the monthly fee buys you out of the roof and the landscaping. The catch is that very little about this complex is published, so the documents do the talking. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Three storeys, a front door and someone else’s roof

Listings I reviewed here describe three-storey townhouses, which is a bigger, more vertical home than the two-storey plans common in the 1970s complexes nearby. More storeys usually means bedrooms upstairs, living space in the middle and a lower level that works as a family room, office or guest space. It also means more stairs, which matters if you are buying for the long term or for a parent.

One recent listing description said the condominium corporation looks after the roof, the landscaping and garbage pickup. That is the core of the deal in a townhouse condo: you pay a monthly fee and the corporation carries the exterior work you would handle yourself in a freehold house. Confirm the exact split in the declaration for the unit you are buying, because it differs between corporations.

The same listing noted a furnace and air conditioner replaced in the last few years by the owner. That is a useful clue that heating and cooling equipment is likely an owner responsibility here, so check the age of those systems on any unit you consider, along with windows and any exclusive-use patio or yard.

Not the same complex as Wild Briarway

Buyers often lump the Briar Way streets together, and it is easy to see why: Tangle Briar Way and Wild Briar Way sit side by side just west of Leslie. The records say they are different developments. condos.ca dates Tangle Briarway to 1983 with Whitehill Residential as manager, and Wild Briarway to 1972 with ICC Property Management. Different decades and different managers point to separate corporations with separate budgets.

There is a second wrinkle. condos.ca labels this page Tangle Briarway 1 at 118 Tangle Briarway, and it has another page for a Tangle Briarway complex covering other numbers on the street. Individual homes with their own street numbers can also show up under either page. Before you firm up an offer, confirm the corporation number on the status certificate and make sure it matches the unit, its parking and any exclusive-use areas.

Forty years in: what a 1983 complex needs

At over 40 years old, this complex is past the first replacement cycle on its shorter-lived items and into the second on some. Roofs are the big one, given that the corporation carries them, followed by windows and exterior doors if they are common elements, cladding, fences, decks, internal roads, drainage and site lighting.

None of that is a reason to avoid the complex. It is a reason to read the reserve fund study carefully and match it against the board minutes. You want to see that the roofs have a funded plan, that recent work was paid for from the reserve rather than a special assessment, and that the next five to ten years of projects are realistic. If the study is old or the minutes talk about deferring work, ask why.

On the unit itself, get a full home inspection. With three storeys, look closely at the stairs, the lower level for moisture, the electrical panel and the plumbing, and ask what has been updated since 1983.

Also ask how many units in the complex are leased. With one home listed for rent when I wrote this, some investor ownership is clearly present, and the board minutes and status certificate will tell you whether leasing rules or owner-occupancy have been a discussion point at the corporation.

Where it sits, in plain terms

Tangle Briar Way is in the east part of Bayview Village, just west of Leslie Street near Van Horne Avenue, between Sheppard Avenue East and Finch Avenue East. Leslie is the City’s eastern boundary for the neighbourhood, so this is the Bayview Village address without the Bayview Village detached price tag.

The neighbourhood was laid out in the 1950s with curving streets and is mostly bungalows, split-levels and larger detached homes, with the condo towers concentrated along Sheppard. The East Don Parklands run through the middle of the neighbourhood with trails and bike paths, and Bayview Village Shopping Centre sits at Bayview and Sheppard. Transit, schools and parks for this address are in the data panel on this page.

Pricing and fees: what I can and cannot tell you

At the time I wrote this, nothing in the complex was listed for sale and one home was listed for lease. That is not enough to describe the market, and I do not publish a single listing’s price or fee. Use the sold-data panel on this page for medians, and expect a wide spread, since three-storey townhouses here can differ a lot in renovation level and parking.

condos.ca does not publish a fee range or a full fee-inclusion list for Tangle Briarway. When you get the status certificate, line up the monthly fee against what it covers, roof, landscaping, garbage and anything else, and against the reserve fund contribution. A townhouse fee that carries the roof is doing real work, and it should be compared with the cost of owning that roof yourself, not with a condo apartment fee. For recent trades in this exact complex, my building sold report pulls them together.

Building specifications

Amenities at Tangle Briarway Townhouses

Visitor parking is the only shared amenity I found listed, which is standard for a townhouse complex of this era. The fee here pays for exterior upkeep and grounds rather than facilities, and that is how it should be judged.

Jatin’s honest take on Tangle Briarway Townhouses

Tangle Briarway Townhouses — frequently asked questions

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