What to do when your landlord will not change the buzzer number
A landlord who refuses to change the buzzer number is usually refusing an administrative request, not a repair. In Toronto, the bylaw requires every unit in a building with a shared entrance to be connected to a working two-way intercom, so a panel that reaches nobody is reportable to 311. A panel that reaches the wrong phone is not. For that, put one number on the panel that rings every phone in the apartment.
You asked, and they said no. Maybe the superintendent shrugged, maybe the management company never replied, maybe your landlord said the buzzer is not their problem.
Whose job the entry system is in an Ontario tenancy is a separate question. Start there if you have not asked yet. This page picks up after the refusal.
Why did they say no?
The reason decides which route works, and four of them cover nearly every refusal.
- They heard a second number. An entry panel stores one phone number per unit. Somebody asked for two numbers ten times this year says no on reflex.
- The change costs them a visit. On older panels the number lives in the equipment and a technician has to be booked. Which system your building has decides whether this is a two-minute job or a service call.
- Nobody owns the task. The superintendent cannot edit the panel, the management company assumes it was done, and your request sits in the gap.
- In a condo, your landlord cannot do it. The panel belongs to the corporation, and your landlord is a unit owner with no more access than you have.
What is the version of the ask they usually say yes to?
Change the ask before you escalate. Storing one number, once, is the routine edit a building makes every time a tenant moves in. Adding phones, or ringing two people, is the request that gets refused.
BuzzMeBro gives your apartment its own local phone number. You hand that number to the building once and they store it in the lobby entry panel like any other number. When a visitor buzzes your unit, every phone registered to the apartment rings at the same time, up to 4 of them. Whoever answers first can talk to the visitor and open the door.
That shrinks your request to the smallest version of itself. One number, one edit, and no reason to revisit it. A buzz arrives as an ordinary inbound phone call, so there is nothing to install. It is $11.99 a month or $109.00 a year per apartment, not per person. How the ring-everyone part works.
What can you actually force them to do?
Two different requests get called the same thing, and only one is enforceable.
Section 20 of Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act makes the landlord responsible for keeping the building in a good state of repair and for meeting health, safety and maintenance standards. In Toronto that standard is Chapter 629 of the municipal code. In a building of three or more units with a shared entrance, every unit must be connected to the front door by a two-way voice communication system and a door release, kept in working order.
The line runs through the word connected.
Enforceable
- The panel has to reach your unit. If the stored number is disconnected, or belongs to a tenant who left years ago, nobody can call you from the lobby.
- The door release has to work from that call. A call that connects but will not open the door is half a system.
- The lobby sign has to show a current name and phone number for the owner or manager, updated within a week of any change.
- None of this depends on your lease. A clause making the entry system your responsibility does not hold up.
Reasonable, but nobody will order it
- Swapping the stored number to your mobile because you prefer it.
- A second number on the panel for your partner. Second slots are rollovers that only dial 20 to 30 seconds after the first number rings out.
- Getting the edit done this week rather than next month.
- The panel ringing you instead of your roommate.
If your panel dials a number nobody can answer, you are in the first list and you have a real complaint. A buzzer still calling the old tenant is the clearest version, because a stranger can currently release your lobby door.
Who do you send it to, and who do you copy?
A no from one person is not a no from the building. Usually you have been talking to whoever is easiest to reach, which is the person with the least authority to act.
- Start with the name on the lobby sign. Toronto requires that sign to carry the current owner or manager, and it is often not the person who said no.
- Copy the management company’s general inbox, not only the superintendent. A shared inbox creates a ticket. A text to a superintendent creates nothing.
- In a condo, ask your landlord to request it from property management with you copied. The corporation often will not take a directory change from a tenant directly.
- Send it from an address you will still have in a year, and keep everything in one thread. The thread is your evidence later.
- Write down what the panel does now Press your unit code at the lobby panel and note what happens. It rings out, reaches a stranger, reaches your roommate, or does nothing. How to find what number your buzzer calls.
- Send one email with one ask Give your unit, one sentence on what the panel does today, and the single number you want stored. Ask for written confirmation and name a date.
- Follow up after five business days Reply in the same thread rather than starting a new one. Ask for a status and the name of the person handling it. A named person is harder to lose.
- Go up one level Forward the whole thread to the owner or manager named on the lobby sign. Say what you asked for, when, and what response you have had.
- Call 311 if the system does not work In Toronto, report a building entry system that does not function. Non-urgent complaints get a response in roughly five to ten business days, and a bylaw officer can inspect and order a repair.
- Apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board last A T6 covers maintenance and a failure to meet standards. A T2 covers substantial interference with your reasonable enjoyment. The fee is just over fifty dollars, less through the portal, with a waiver for low incomes.
| Route | What it can achieve | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| Re-ask with one number to store | Removes the reason behind most refusals, because it is one routine edit | A few days, and the number has to ring everyone by itself |
| Written request to the owner or manager | Nothing on its own. It builds the record later steps need | Ten minutes, then five business days of waiting |
| 311 property standards complaint | An inspection, and an order to repair a system that fails | Five to ten business days, and your building on file |
| Landlord and Tenant Board application | A repair order, and sometimes a rent abatement | A filing fee, your evidence, and most of a year of waiting |
What if you cannot wait months for any of this?
Escalation is slow. Tenant applications sit near the back of the Landlord and Tenant Board queue, and a hearing can be most of a year away. You still need the door to open.
Forwarding the line the panel already calls: free, and fine for one person
If the panel dials a line you control and only one person ever needs to answer, forward that line to your mobile. For a single occupant that is the right answer. The keypad tone survives a carrier forward, so the door still opens. How to set that up. It fails the day a second person needs to hear the buzzer, because a forward rings one phone.
Google Voice: free, but the door often will not open
A Google Voice number can ring several phones, which is why people reach for it. The door is where it falls over. The lock releases because a keypad tone travels back down the call as audio, and services that re-encode audio often mangle that tone. You get the call, press the digit, and the door stays shut. More on why.
The route that ends the argument is the one that needs a single edit. One local number stored in the panel, every phone in the apartment ringing at once, and nothing extra for the building to maintain. BuzzMeBro is $11.99 a month or $109.00 a year for the apartment, across up to 4 phones. Check whether a number is available for your building.
Questions people ask
My landlord says the buzzer is not included in the rent. Is that right?
The lease does not decide this. Ontario law makes the landlord responsible for maintaining the residential complex in a good state of repair, and a clause shifting that onto a tenant is not enforceable. A building entry system is part of the building rather than an optional extra service.
How long should I wait before escalating a buzzer request?
Five business days for a reply to a written request is fair. Two to three weeks is fair for the edit itself on an older panel that needs a technician booked. Follow up inside the same email thread each time so the whole record stays in one place.
Can my landlord evict me for complaining to the city about the buzzer?
Ontario tenancy law treats an eviction brought because a tenant complained to a government authority as its own problem, and a property standards complaint is a right tenants have. Keep your rent current and your requests in writing. This is general information, not legal advice.
The building says it will only store a landline number.
Ask what the panel actually restricts, because the answer is usually a local calling limit on the panel line rather than a rule about landlines. A local number in the building’s own area code satisfies that limit, and that is the kind of number BuzzMeBro checks for at signup. More on the landline question.
Will a 311 complaint get my buzzer number changed?
No. A 311 property standards complaint can force a building entry system to be repaired so it works, and it will not make anyone store the number you would prefer. Give them one number instead that rings every phone in your apartment, which BuzzMeBro provides in a single routine edit.