A Scarborough field study · City inspection data
The Scarborough apartment pest report
The City of Toronto inspects every apartment building under RentSafeTO and scores each one on pests. We pulled the records for 795 Scarborough buildings and mapped them. Here is where common-area pests actually turn up, and in which buildings.
Every inspected building, mapped
Each dot is one apartment building, placed at its real address and coloured by its most recent common-area pest score. Tap any dot for the building’s details and a link to look it up on the City’s map.
By ward
Share of each ward’s buildings that showed common-area pest evidence.
By the decade the building went up
Flag rate against construction era. The big postwar towers carry it.
Renting, or managing a Scarborough building with a pest problem?
What the numbers mean
Under RentSafeTO, the City evaluates apartment buildings with at least three storeys and ten units, scoring roughly 50 items from 1 (lowest) to 3 (highest). Two are pest-specific: evidence of pests in common areas, and whether the building keeps a required pest-control log. We counted a building as showing evidence when it scored below 3 on common-area pests at its most recent evaluation.
Read it honestly. This measures common areas (lobbies, halls, garbage and chute rooms) at one point in time, in apartment buildings only. It is not a verdict on any individual unit, and it does not cover houses, low-rises or new problems since the last visit. A high score is good. To check a specific building, use the City’s official RentSafeTO map.
The pattern tracks how buildings age: the 1960s and 1970s towers that make up much of Scarborough’s rental stock flag most often, because shared walls, chutes and service risers let cockroaches, mice and bed bugs move between units. If you are dealing with one now, the fixes are on our cockroach, bed bug and mouse control pages, and if you rent, who pays is in our landlord and tenant guide.
Source: City of Toronto Open Data, Apartment Building Evaluation (RentSafeTO), most recent evaluation per building. Analysis by Scarborough Pest Control Pros, 795 buildings with a recorded pest score. Reviewed September 2026.