New condos are tiny

I do mean tiny. Check the room sizes very carefully as your sofa or dining room table may not fit. Same with a queen or king-size bed.


I know one man bought a sofa bed for his living room but the deliverymen couldn't get through the door. It ended up at his parents' home.

How big is the unit?
I know that in Hong Kong developers exaggerate the stated sizes of the condo units but I didn't realize that some developers in the GTA were also playing the same game. (See: The square foot scam on this page)

The following came from an article on MNS Money by Romana King:

"Ken Grunber, who works at a video production house in Toronto, found out too late that the new condo unit he bought wasn’t nearly as large as advertised. When he and his partner moved in and measured the area, they discovered it wasn’t 700 square feet after all. The condo was actually 560 square feet—if you don’t count the balcony and bathroom.

“That’s not unusual,” says Martin Rumack, a real estate lawyer with over three decades experience in new build construction. “Condo sales staff will often include balcony or terrace measurements as part of the total square footage.” They’ll also base room measurements on external walls. “You can’t rely on their verbal assurances, on the floor models, or on the sale pitch or brochure.”

While listings for resale homes and condos can not include hallway, bathroom, basement or outside space (such as decks and balconies) as part of the listed square footage, no similar restrictions apply to new build or pre-sale condo listings.

This has become a problem with so many new condo purchase decisions relying solely on brochures or artist renditions. Worse, is that builders have the discretion to change an image, or floor plan, or layout and “you have no say,” says Rumack. He suggests asking for a breakdown of room sizes and plan details, and to “get it in writing.” Then, if there’s a substantial difference between what you’re sold and what you get you can either negotiate a price reduction or try and get out of the deal."

A deal is a deal
When you sign the sales agreement, you must live up to its terms so you better fully understand what you have agreed to. A buyer in Vancouver lost $750,000 when he refused to close his deal on an expensive condo.

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