Residents of a north Toronto apartment building who have gone five weeks without heat or hot water will have to wait several more days to return to their warm homes.

At a Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) hearing Tuesday — the fourth since the furnace conked out on Feb. 11 — building owner Bianca Pollak was ordered to continue providing alternate accommodations for residents until the heating system is fixed, tenants told the Star.

“It all seems very callous,” said Daniel Simon, who represents the tenants’ association in Pollak’s buildings, including the 80-year-old, four-storey brick apartment building without heat at 2779 Yonge St.

Pollak was already paying for residents to stay in a hotel, but Simon said she now plans to move some to other apartments she owns, and find housing for others on the short-term rental website, Airbnb.

“Everyone is being forced to move again,” he said.

“They are tired, stressed out and disgusted with being treated like cargo that can be shuffled around without warning.”

Though the building’s furnace has been out of commission for weeks, Pollak told the Star the heating system is now being fixed.

“We don’t need to worry about it,” said Pollak, who hired a contractor to replace the water boiler and furnace, and estimates work will be done in the next few days.

“We are trying absolutely everything to restore heating as soon as possible.”

Yet some residents suspect Pollak is dragging her feet because of an application to demolish the building and replace it with a condo complex designed by British architect Will Alsop, whose work includes the OCAD University building on McCaul St.

“While she claims she is ‘doing all she can,’ she only started work repairs and accommodations after three weeks, when the LTB ordered her to do so,” Andrew Gallagher, a tenant since 2011, wrote in an email Monday.

“She bought these buildings with the intention of turning them around fast for a quick buck. Her goals are short term and only have finance in mind.”

A numbered company registered in Pollak’s name purchased the building in 2012 for more than $3 million, according to property records. The company address is a Rosedale mansion featured two years ago as the National Post’s “home of the week.”

It’s a far cry from the aging building without heat. Constructed in the 1930s, it has 16 units and tenants pay roughly $1,000 per month for a one-bedroom apartment.

Gallagher and other residents say there have been difficulties since Pollak took over as landlord, with previous heating problems last year and complaints about the lack of snow and ice removal on the property. The city’s Municipal Licensing and Standards website shows a history of bylaw investigations at the building going back to October 2012.

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Last Friday, the LTB gave Pollak a few more days to finish repairs on the heating system and ordered her to keep paying for the tenants’ stay at a Best Western hotel, said Simon.

“I have a feeling that if the LTB did not step in and address this situation, we would have been without heat and hot water for much, much longer than this,” said Gallagher.