What Ontario Allows
Income information, which the Ontario Human Rights Commission defines as the amount, source and steadiness of income, may be requested only alongside credit references, rental history or a credit check request, and weighed together with them.1,2 The Commission adds that nothing in the regulation permits asking for employment history, and that requiring permanent employment or minimum tenure has been found discriminatory.2
So the useful question is narrow: does the applicant earn what they say, from whom, and is it current? Payroll data answers that without collecting a work record.
Compared With Pay Stubs and Letters
A stub or employment letter is a document the applicant controls, and a payroll record is not. The federal privacy regulator adds that if a landlord only needs to confirm income from pay stubs, it likely does not need to keep a copy.3 Collect what the decision needs and no more.
PropTx Verify integrates with payroll providers to verify employment at the source and falls back to bank deposits when payroll is not available. See also open banking.
This page is general information about Ontario law, not legal advice.
Related Terms
Sources
- O. Reg. 290/98: Business Practices Permissible to Landlords in Selecting Prospective Tenants for Residential Accommodation
Government of Ontario, e-Laws, ss. 1 to 4, consolidated from March 8, 2018. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Policy on human rights and rental housing, V. Identifying discrimination in rental housing
Ontario Human Rights Commission, ss. 4.2.1 to 4.2.6. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Privacy in the landlord and tenant relationship
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, What personal information do I have to provide?; How should landlords be obtaining my consent?; Does a landlord require my SIN?; Can a landlord ask to see my pay stubs?; Can a landlord call another landlord?. Accessed October 22, 2026.
