Toronto condo residents told to clear storage lockers over fire risk

Residents at the Edge Lofts building on Queen East in Toronto have been told to clear out storage lockers located inside the building's parking garage, according to CBC News. One resident, a makeup artist, said she spent $30,000 on a parking spot and locker more than 15 years ago during pre-construction and now has until August 9th to empty it. Toronto Fire says a parking space should only have been sold for a car, bicycle or motorcycle, not as free-use storage, calling it too much of a fire risk. The city says the original drawings identified the area as a bicycle locker, and a fire consultant says such cases are becoming increasingly common.

Residents at a Toronto condo building have been told to clear out storage lockers located inside the building's parking garage, according to CBC News. The order has left some owners scrambling to figure out where to put their belongings.

One resident said she bought a parking spot and a locker more than 15 years ago during the pre-construction of the building, Edge Lofts on Queen East. She said she spent $30,000 on the parking spot and the locker.

A few weeks ago, she received an email from her property manager telling her to clear the locker out. A makeup artist who uses the locker to store her supplies, she said it will all end up in her unit, turning it into what she called a hoarder's palace and a fire hazard.

The issue is that these particular storage lockers are inside the building's parking garage. According to Toronto Fire, a parking space in the garage should only ever have been advertised and sold as a place to put a car, a bicycle or a motorcycle, and not as a free-use storage space.

The fire chief said it is too much of a fire risk otherwise, given that people can store whatever they want in the lockers. Toronto Fire said there could be exceptions, but they would have to be addressed, approved and recorded under a building permit or what it calls an alternative solutions proposal.

CBC News asked Streetcar Developments, which handled the construction of the building, whether it had approval for the storage lockers in the parking lot, but did not hear back. The fire department would not confirm either, but the city said the drawings originally issued for the building identified the area as a bicycle locker, not a storage locker.

The owners or the condo corporation are responsible for ensuring locker spaces are up to code. A fire consultant said cases like these are becoming increasingly common, and it appears other buildings with storage lockers in their parking garages are also in Toronto Fire's sights. The property manager's email said the building was trying to work with fire services and was still waiting on legal advice, and in the meantime residents have until August 9th to move everything out of the lockers.

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