Ok there’s this book about 3 (or four) teenage boys who rent this apartment in Toronto and live by themselves. I think they worked at this plastic bubble wand making factory, and they got fired later on… And in their apartment building, there are some tenants like this guy who never left his apartment building, and a really old lady who used to go running early in the morning… If my memory serves well, one of the boys had an older brother who previously owned the apartment, and left to Europe, or something like that… I don’t remember the author, or the title, but I hope I gave enough information to ID this book.
Author is Gordan Korman, book is Loosing Joe’s Place.