The buzzer checklist for moving into a Toronto apartment
Sort the buzzer in your first week in a Toronto apartment, because until you do it is still pointing at whoever lived there before. Ask property management what number is stored against your unit, ask which digit opens the door, decide what number you actually want stored, then test it from the lobby yourself rather than trusting the confirmation.
Moving day in Toronto is movers, keys, a fob, a parking pass and an elevator booking. The buzzer is the thing nobody mentions and the thing that fails first, usually on the evening your first delivery arrives.
Week one: find out what the panel holds
Email property management and ask what number is recorded against your unit in the entry system. It costs you one email and it tells you whether you have a problem at all.
In a lot of Toronto buildings the answer is a number belonging to somebody who left in 2019. That person can still let anyone into your building, which is worth saying plainly when you report it. What that looks like.
Week one: ask which digit opens the door
Marketing everywhere says press 9. Your building decides, and plenty of Toronto panels use something else. You will find out either now, in an email, or later, with somebody standing in the lobby.
Decide what number you want stored
This is the decision the whole thing turns on, and most people make it without noticing. Putting one mobile number in the field means one person is the doorman for the apartment from now on.
It also has to be a number the panel can actually reach. Lobby panels dial on a building line restricted to local calls, so a mobile you brought from another province is often unreachable. Why that happens.
| If your apartment is | Put in the field | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Two or more people | A number that rings everyone, like BuzzMeBro | Nobody becomes the doorman, and roommate changes never touch the building |
| One person with a GTA mobile | That mobile | It is free and it works |
| One person with an out-of-province mobile | A local number that rings that mobile | The panel cannot dial your number as it stands |
A single occupant with a Toronto number should put their own number on it and pay nobody. That is the honest answer and it is most of the reason the rest of this is worth trusting.
The email to send
- Email property management, not the concierge Front desk staff almost never have panel access. Use the management company address on your welcome package.
- Give the unit number and the number to store Written out in full. Ask them to confirm by email once it is done.
- Ask which digit releases the door Same email. It is one line and it saves a separate exchange later.
- Test it from the lobby Once the confirmation arrives. Press your unit code, answer, and open the door once.
Two to five business days is normal in Toronto. The detail on making the request.
While the movers are still there
Prop the lobby door if the building allows it, or have somebody stay downstairs. Do not rely on a buzzer you have not tested on the one day you have four deliveries and an elevator booking.
If more than one of you is moving in, BuzzMeBro is worth setting up before the lease starts so the building only has to make one change. It is $11.99 a month for the apartment and rings up to 4 phones. Set it up.
Questions people ask
Is the buzzer set up automatically when I sign a lease?
No. The entry panel is a separate system from the lease, and nothing connects the two. Somebody has to edit the directory entry for your unit, and until they do it still points at the last tenant.
How soon should I sort it out?
In the first week. The cost of leaving it is a stranger answering for your apartment and your deliveries going back to the depot, and both start on day one.
Can I sort it out before I move in?
Often yes, once you have a lease and a unit number. Property managers will usually schedule the change for your move-in date if you ask, which means the buzzer works the day you arrive.
What if the building has no lobby panel at all?
Then you likely have a hardwired intercom with a handset on the wall, which never dials a phone number. That is a building system question rather than a setting, and it is worth knowing before you buy anything.
Two of us are moving in. What do we put on the panel?
A number that rings both phones, rather than one of yours. BuzzMeBro gives the apartment a number that is local to the building and rings up to 4 phones, so neither of you ends up being the one who always has to answer.