The 27-point tenant screening checklist for Ontario landlords

How the 27 points fit together

The checks fall into five groups, each aimed at a different risk. The first ones are quick and catch the most common fraud; the deeper ones follow once an applicant looks serious. Through our tenant screening, every applicant goes through all 27 before we put their name forward, which usually takes 48 to 72 hours once a complete application is in.

Not every point is pass or fail. An applicant can miss one or two and still be a good choice; the checklist shows where the risk sits, so the decision rests on facts instead of a feeling. The landlord always makes the final call.

Identity and the application (points 1 to 5)

These take a few minutes and catch the most common fraud: someone applying under another person's name, or an application too thin to check.

1. Photo ID matches the application. A current driver's licence, passport or Ontario photo card, with the name matching the application exactly and the photo matching the person. Most identity fraud uses a real ID that belongs to someone else, so the person matters as much as the card.
2. The application is complete. Every field filled in. Gaps are usually where the problem is: a missing previous landlord, an old address, an employer who wouldn't give a good reference.
3. Every adult signs the application. Each adult who'll be on the lease gives their own details and signs, so each person's information and consent are on record.
4. The addresses line up. If the address on the ID differs from the current address on the application, there's often a simple reason, like a recent move. We ask, and confirm current and past addresses.
5. Written consent for the checks. Specific, signed permission to pull a credit report and to contact employers and past landlords. Without it, a credit check can turn into a privacy complaint.

Credit and finances (points 6 to 12)

This is where the tenant credit check comes in. With the applicant's written consent, a landlord or a screening service can pull a report from Equifax or TransUnion; Canadian landlord services such as SingleKey, Naborly and Certn build that consent into their forms. A Social Insurance Number isn't needed to run one.

6. A full credit report on every adult who will sign. Not just the lead applicant: everyone on the lease is responsible for the rent, so everyone's history counts.
7. The score, read in context. We treat 680 and up as strong, look closely at 620 to 679, and dig into anything below 620. A young applicant with little history is a different case from a long record of missed payments.
8. Four red flags the score hides. Recent collections from a phone, hydro or gas company; accounts the lender closed; debts settled for less than was owed; and five or more hard credit inquiries in six months.
9. Bankruptcy or a consumer proposal. One in the last two years is a serious flag. Within five years, it's a conversation. Older, with a clean record since, it's usually a closed chapter.
10. Debt payments weighed against income. Car loans, credit card minimums, student loans and support payments, added up and compared with gross income. It's one signal among many, never a cut-off on its own.
11. Two or three months of bank statements. Deposits should match the income claimed and arrive on the employer's schedule. Applicants can cover unrelated transactions; returned-payment (NSF) charges are a flag.
12. Landlord and Tenant Board orders. We search the Board's published orders with Zola's LTB record search, by the applicant's name and its variations and by their past addresses, for unpaid orders to a past landlord.

Employment and income (points 13 to 17)

Most fraud that gets past a landlord gets past it here, usually at point 14. Our guide to spotting fake pay stubs goes into the documents in more detail.

13. Recent pay stubs. The last two or three, with the employer's name, a pay schedule that makes sense, income tax, CPP and EI deductions, and year-to-date totals that add up.
14. The employer, called on a number we find ourselves. We look up the company's main line on its own website and ask for human resources, never the number on the application, which can belong to a friend or a paid "reference" service. Many employers confirm the job but not the salary; the documents then confirm the income.
15. A T4 slip or a Notice of Assessment. Issued by the government, and much harder to fake than a pay stub.
16. Self-employed income. Two years of tax returns and Notices of Assessment, plus business statements where the income runs through a company. Two steady years count for more than one good one.
17. Income weighed with everything else. We compare income with the rent, but never as a cut-off on its own. Ontario's regulation on landlords' screening practices lets income be used only together with credit references, rental history and a credit check, and the Ontario Human Rights Commission says minimum income criteria used on their own breach the Code.

Rental history and reference questions (points 18 to 23)

How someone rented before is the clearest guide to how they'll rent next. These are the reference checks, and the questions that get honest answers from past landlords.

18. At least two past landlords. The current one and the one before. A current landlord who wants a tenant gone may say anything; the previous one has nothing to gain.
19. The landlord really owns the property. We check public property records for the address. A "landlord" who doesn't own it may be a friend reading a script.
20. "Would you rent to them again?" It forces a yes or no, where "were they a good tenant?" invites a vague "they were fine". Then: "On a scale of 1 to 10, what stopped them from being a 10?"
21. How long they stayed. A run of short tenancies is worth a question: "Did they leave on their own, or was there an issue?"
22. The condition they left the unit in. "Was it returned in the same condition, apart from normal wear?" Repainting or new flooring after a short stay is a flag.
23. Rent paid on time. "Was rent paid on the first, every month?" and "Did you ever serve an N4 notice for unpaid rent?" An N4, even one paid off in time, is part of the record.

Background and final checks (points 24 to 27)

A tenant background check, done properly, confirms the person and their story; it doesn't dig into their private life. These last four checks catch what the paperwork misses.

24. A public identity check. With the applicant's knowledge, we confirm the identity and work history they gave us against public information, such as a professional profile. It's used only to confirm the story, never on any ground the Human Rights Code protects.
25. Reverse phone lookups on references. If an "employer" or "landlord" number traces to someone else's personal phone, the reference isn't what it claims to be.
26. A short conversation, checked against the application. Where they work, for how long, where they live now. Answers that drift from the written application are information.
27. The decision, in writing. Which points passed, which didn't, and the reason for the choice. A written, consistent reason protects a landlord if a decision is ever questioned, at the Human Rights Tribunal or anywhere else.

What the checklist never looks at

Ontario's Human Rights Code protects applicants from being turned down because of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or receipt of public assistance. None of the 27 points asks about them, and we don't ask applicants whether they have children.

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada recommends that landlords don't ask for a Social Insurance Number, advises against using social networks for background checks, and says applicants' files should be kept secure and destroyed once they're no longer needed. That's why the credit check runs without a SIN, why point 24 is limited to confirming identity, and why every file is stored securely until it's destroyed.

The checklist at a glance

Use it on every applicant, in the same order, so every decision is made the same way.

Sources

• O. Reg. 290/98, Business practices permissible to landlords in selecting prospective tenants
• Ontario Human Rights Commission, Human rights and rental housing in Ontario: minimum income criteria
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Privacy tips for the rental housing sector (May 2016)
• Ontario Human Rights Code