Toronto Tenant Says His Shower Door Fell Off Seven Months Ago and After Eight Emails and Two Repair Requests It Is Still Leaning on the Wall

Most people would notice if their shower suddenly had no door. A Toronto renter has been living with exactly that for more than half a year. In a dryly hilarious video, @thebnoth gestures at a glass panel propped against his bathroom wall like it is a piece of decor. “Oh this old thing? That’s just my shower door,” he says. “Seven months ago it fell off.”

Luckily, he caught it before it shattered. “Nothing broke,” he explains. He even found the small piece of plastic from the hinge that seems to be the culprit, then leaned the door safely against the wall and did what every lease tells a tenant to do. He sent a maintenance request through his landlord’s online portal.

“Did they respond? Absolutely not,” he says.

A Paper Trail That Went Nowhere

A month later he followed up by email, asking whether anyone had received his portal request. The reply he got could be framed and hung in a museum of customer service. “They said, please send all maintenance requests through the portal,” he recalls.

So he did. He sent a second portal request. Two months passed with no word. He emailed again, and this time, he says, they told him they would send someone.

A repairman finally arrived. The tenant says the man looked at the door and told him it was nothing, just a little part, and he would be back the following week to fix it.

That was the last he saw of him. Seven months on, he says, he has not heard a thing. By his count, he has sent eight emails and two portal requests, and he even texted the repairman personally.

What bothers him most is that no one ever checked how he was managing without a door. He wonders aloud whether anyone at the company asked if water was spraying across the floors every time someone showered. “They haven’t once checked,” he says. “It’s just been sitting here in my apartment. And I don’t know what to do.”

@thebnoth

Then the sarcasm kicks into high gear. He jokes about how easy it would be to put the landlord’s email on screen so everyone could write in asking them to fix his shower door, before insisting he would never do that, because he is “a good man.” He thanks landlords for allowing him a place to live and mock-sympathizes that they are busy running a business. Then he leans into the camera and drops the act with four words: “Fix my shower door.”

What Ontario Renters Can Do

His frustration is familiar to renters everywhere, but those in Ontario have more tools than many realize.

Landlords must keep units in good repair. Under Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord is responsible for maintaining the rental unit and building in a good state of repair and in line with health, safety and housing standards. That obligation applies even if a tenant knew about a problem before moving in.

Call the city. In Toronto, tenants can contact 311 to report property standards problems. The city can send an inspector, and if the landlord is out of compliance, it can issue an order to make repairs.

Apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board. Tenants can file an application about maintenance, known as a T6, asking the board to order repairs, reduce the rent, or award compensation. A thorough paper trail, like the one this tenant has built, is exactly what helps make that case.

Do not stop paying rent. In Ontario, withholding rent over repairs is not allowed without the board’s permission, and it can lead to eviction proceedings. Use the official channels instead.

How to Push for Repairs Anywhere

Laws differ across U.S. states and Canadian provinces, but these steps help almost any renter waiting on a landlord.

Put everything in writing. Portal requests, emails and letters create a record with dates. Phone calls are easy to forget or deny.

Take photos and videos. Document the problem from day one, along with any damage it causes, like water on the floors.

Keep a simple log. Write down every request, every response, and every promised visit that never happened.

Send a formal letter. If casual requests fail, send a dated letter describing the problem, how long it has gone on, and a reasonable deadline for the repair.

Know your local agencies. In the U.S., city code enforcement or housing inspection offices can inspect rental units, and many areas have tenant rights groups or legal aid offices that offer free advice.

Think about safety in the meantime. A loose glass panel leaning against a wall can fall and shatter, especially in a home with children or pets. Move it somewhere stable, lay a towel or mat down to catch spray, and mention any safety risk in writing so the landlord cannot say they were unaware.

Do not make repairs yourself without checking the rules. Some places allow tenants to fix a problem and deduct the cost from rent, but only under strict conditions. Doing it the wrong way can backfire.

A shower door may seem like a small thing compared with a broken furnace or a leaking roof. But that is exactly his point. It is a small part, a quick fix by the repairman’s own account, and seven months later it is still leaning against the wall.

Willow and Hearth