Ever been curious about how much your neighbours have to shell out in rent every month in Toronto? 

Well, a new Ontario rental registry lets you investigate just that by exploring self-reported rental prices across Toronto in an effort to preserve affordability in the residential market. 

Designed by non-profit organization, Vivre en Ville, the free registry has already amassed thousands of listed rents in virtually every neighbourhood in the city despite only being launched on Tuesday.

The open data platform is crowdsourced and allows you to browse information regarding a unit's rent, monthly electricity charges, permission to have a pet, and other specific characteristics.

By hovering over a map of the city, you can click on or search specific addresses to analyze patterns across rent-controlled buildings versus units subject to unregulated rent increases. 

"The lack of proper data about the rental situation has made it difficult to deal with the housing crisis. Here in Toronto there are huge differences in rents and practices between different landlords and buildings," said Dr. Alan Walks, Professor of Geography, Geomatics, and Environment at the University of Toronto. 

"Above-guideline rent increases have been used for very different ends — many unrelated to paying for needed maintenance — including tenant harassment, profiteering, and eviction. This rental registry will provide the valuable data we need to understand what is going on and come up with policies that address the underlying problems."

In order to register, you are asked to provide the address of your unit, the cost of rent for a given period, the size of your unit, and an email address. You will also be asked for other information concerning the terms of your lease and demographics, but this section is completely optional. 

A similar registry was launched in Quebec in the spring of 2022, with the organization seeking to increase transparency in the residential market and tackle the unprecedented surge in rent prices across Ontario.