Soft Credit Check

Soft Versus Hard Inquiries When Renting

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada gives requesting your own report and a company updating records on an existing account as examples of soft inquiries. It lists “some rental applications” among hard inquiries, which other lenders can see and which do affect the score.¹

So a rental credit check is not soft by default. Whether it lands as soft or hard depends on how the bureau and the screening provider record it, and it is worth asking the provider before telling an applicant their score won’t move. PropTx Verify runs a soft credit check that does not affect the applicant’s score.

Consent Still Applies

A soft check is still a credit check. Ontario’s tenant-selection regulation lets a landlord request authorization from the applicant to run one.² The federal privacy regulator says landlords should get the applicant’s express agreement before a credit check, and that a basic check needs only name, address and date of birth.³

This page is general information about Ontario law, not legal advice.

Related Terms

• Hard Credit Check
• Credit Score (Canada)
• Tenant Screening Report

Sources

1. Improving your credit score

   Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Hard inquiries; Soft inquiries (page dated 2026-07-01). Accessed October 22, 2026.

2. 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.

3. 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.