Tenant Screening and Ontario Rental Glossary
Plain definitions of tenant screening and Ontario rental terms, from soft credit check to N4 notice, each with a primary source.
- Credit Score (Canada)
- A credit score in Canada is a three-digit number calculated from the information in a credit report, usually between 300 and 900; Canada’s two main credit bureaus are Equifax and TransUnion.
- Guarantor
- A guarantor, sometimes called a co-signer, is a person who promises to pay the rent if the tenant does not. Ontario’s tenant-selection regulation lets a landlord require a prospective tenant to obtain a guarantee for the rent.
- Hard Credit Check
- A hard credit check, or hard inquiry, is a credit check that appears on the consumer’s credit report, is visible to anyone who views the report, and affects the credit score.
- Human Rights Code (Ontario)
- Ontario’s Human Rights Code gives every person the right to equal treatment in the occupancy of housing without discrimination because of 16 listed grounds, including age, family status, citizenship, disability and receipt of public assistance.
- L1 Application
- An L1 is the Landlord and Tenant Board application a landlord files to end a tenancy and evict a tenant for non-payment of rent, and to collect the rent owing up to the date the tenant moves out.
- Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB)
- The Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) is the Ontario tribunal with exclusive jurisdiction to decide applications under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, such as evictions and claims for rent owing.
- Landlord Reference
- A landlord reference is a previous or current landlord’s account of an applicant’s tenancy, such as the dates, the rent and whether it was paid on time. Ontario’s tenant-selection regulation lets a landlord request rental history information and consider it.
- Last Month’s Rent Deposit
- A last month’s rent deposit is a rent deposit, collected on or before signing, that the landlord must apply to the rent for the last rent period of the tenancy. It is the only security deposit an Ontario landlord may collect.
- N4 Notice
- An N4 is the Landlord and Tenant Board form a landlord gives a tenant to end the tenancy early for non-payment of rent. The termination date must be at least 7 days after the notice is given.
- Ontario Standard Lease
- The Ontario standard lease, formally the Residential Tenancy Agreement (Standard Form of Lease), is the prescribed form most residential tenancy agreements entered into on or after April 30, 2018 must use.
- Open Banking
- Open banking, which Canada calls consumer-driven banking, is a framework that lets consumers securely share their financial data with service providers they choose, in place of handing over their banking passwords.
- OREA Rental Application (Form 410)
- OREA Form 410, Rental Application (Residential), is the Ontario Real Estate Association’s standard form that REALTORs® use to collect a prospective tenant’s application for a residential unit.
- Payroll Verification
- Payroll verification confirms a rental applicant’s employer, pay and pay frequency from the employer’s payroll records, usually through a connection the applicant authorizes, instead of from documents the applicant supplies. In Ontario it counts as income information.
- Rent Reporting
- Rent reporting is sending a tenant’s rent payment history to a credit bureau so that it appears on their credit file. Canada’s 2024 federal budget called on banks, fintechs and credit bureaus to launch tools that let renters opt in to it.
- Rent-to-Income Ratio
- A rent-to-income ratio is the monthly rent divided by the applicant’s monthly income, often written as a percentage. The Ontario Human Rights Commission says applying one as a cut-off, such as a 30% rule, is illegal outside subsidized housing.
- Soft Credit Check
- A soft credit check, or soft inquiry, is a look at a credit report that appears only on the version of the report the consumer sees and does not affect their credit score.
- Synthetic Identity
- A synthetic identity is a fabricated person assembled from a combination of real and invented personal details, used to commit fraud for personal or financial gain.
- Tenant Screening Report
- A tenant screening report is the set of checks on a rental applicant, usually credit, identity, income, employment and rental history, that a landlord reviews before deciding whether to rent. When a consumer reporting agency supplies it, Ontario law treats it as a consumer report.
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