Why Listing Agents See It First
The listing REALTOR® is usually the first person to handle the application package, so a forged pay stub or a borrowed identity reaches you before it reaches the landlord. Once you present an applicant as qualified, the landlord is relying on your file.
Almost every document in a standard package can now be produced or altered at home. That is not a reason to distrust applicants. It is a reason to stop treating documents as proof and start treating them as claims to check.
The Documents That Get Faked
Each common document has a predictable weak point, and a source that settles it:
| Document | What usually gets changed | Check it against |
|---|---|---|
| Pay stub | Gross and net pay, year-to-date totals, employer | A connected payroll record or the pay deposits in a connected bank account |
| Bank statement | Deposits, balances, name, removed NSF or collection lines | A connected bank account |
| Employment letter | Salary, start date, a fake employer or a friend posing as HR | Payroll data, or a call to a number you found yourself |
| Credit report | Score, accounts, name, report date | A report you pull with the applicant’s written authorization |
| Photo ID | Someone else’s identity, or a mix of real and invented details | The person on a live call, the credit file and the income source |
| Landlord reference | A friend posing as the previous landlord | The owner of record or manager, reached through contact details you found |
The detailed checks for each are in fake pay stubs, fake bank statements, fake employment letters, fake credit reports and tenant identity fraud.
Making a false document, including materially altering a genuine one, is forgery under the Criminal Code, and knowingly using one as genuine is a separate offence.1,2 Using another person’s identity information to commit fraud is also an offence.3
Behaviour Red Flags
How an applicant handles verification often tells you more than the documents do. Watch for:
- Pressure to skip steps: “the landlord already approved me”, a same-day lease, or a deadline that only the applicant has.
- Offers to pay several months upfront in place of verification.
- Refusing to connect payroll or a bank account while sending polished PDFs of both.
- Avoiding a live video call or an in-person viewing, or someone else attending in the applicant’s place.
- References and employers reachable only by mobile number or free email address.
- Documents that arrive all at once, created the same day, from a person who had to “dig them up”.
- Changing stories when a detail is questioned, or a new document appearing to fix each mismatch.
Keep these about behaviour around verification, never about who the applicant is. The Ontario Human Rights Commission warns that applying criteria to some applicants and not others can be evidence of discrimination, and that a lack of credit history, common among newcomers and young people, should not be treated as a bad credit history.4
The Verification Order
Check in an order where each step makes the next one harder to fake, and run the same order for every applicant on the listing:
- Consent. Get written authorization for the credit check and the other checks first. O. Reg. 290/98 lets a landlord ask for it, and the Privacy Commissioner expects consent for credit, reference and background checks.5,6
- Identity. See photo ID and the person together, and confirm the name and date of birth match the application. You likely do not need to keep a copy.6
- Credit. Pull the report yourself instead of accepting the applicant’s copy, and check it matches the ID.
- Income and employment. Confirm through payroll data or bank deposits the applicant connects, and fall back to a call through a number you found yourself. Income is weighed together with credit and rental history, not alone.5
- Rental history. Reach the previous landlord through contact details you found, and confirm the address, dates and rent.
- Cross-check. Read the results against each other. Fraud usually shows as two sources that disagree, not as one obviously fake document.
PropTx Verify runs these checks in one screening: payroll and bank data the applicant connects, credit and ID checks, landlord references it contacts, and a search of public and private records for fraud, eviction and criminal records. Manual uploads get fraud detection and a lower score than connected data, and Chat with Report flags red flags and compares applicants side by side.
Reporting Suspected Fraud
Report to local police and to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. The Centre says local police investigate, and it collects reports, including from witnesses and anonymously, at reportcyberandfraud.canada.ca to link cases and support investigations.7
- Stop before keys, deposits or a signed lease change hands.
- Keep the application, documents, messages and your notes of what did not match.
- Tell the landlord what you found and which source contradicted the application.
- If you decline wholly or partly because of a credit report, the Consumer Reporting Act requires you to tell the applicant and, if asked within 60 days, name the agency.8
- Do not share the applicant’s details on an informal “bad tenant” list. The Privacy Commissioner has found landlords have no right to disclose information to unregulated lists of that kind.6
This page is general information, not legal advice. For a decision that turns on specific facts, talk to a lawyer or licensed paralegal.
Questions
What Is Rental Application Fraud?
An applicant using forged or altered documents, false references or another person’s identity to qualify for a rental. Common targets are pay stubs, bank statements, employment letters, credit reports and ID.
Who Do You Report Rental Application Fraud to in Ontario?
Your local police, who investigate, and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at reportcyberandfraud.canada.ca. Witnesses can report as well as victims.7
Can You Reject an Applicant You Suspect of Fraud?
Yes, if the decision rests on information you could not verify rather than on a Human Rights Code ground. Apply the same checks to every applicant and keep notes.4
Can You Warn Other Landlords About a Fraudulent Applicant?
Not through an informal “bad tenant” list; the Privacy Commissioner has found landlords cannot disclose information to unregulated lists. Report to police and the Anti-Fraud Centre instead.6
Sources
- Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46
Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada, s. 366(1) and (2), forgery and making a false document; current to 2026-09-30. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46
Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada, s. 368(1), use, trafficking or possession of forged document. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46
Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada, s. 402.2(1), identity theft. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Policy on human rights and rental housing, V. Identifying discrimination in rental housing
Ontario Human Rights Commission, s. 4.2 Rental criteria; s. 4.2.4 Credit history. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- O. Reg. 290/98: Business Practices Permissible to Landlords in Selecting Prospective Tenants for Residential Accommodation
Government of Ontario, e-Laws, s. 1(1) to (5). 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 to a prospective landlord?; Can a landlord ask to see my driver’s licence?; Can a landlord look into my background…?; Can a landlord put my name on a “bad tenant” list?. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Report fraud and cybercrime
Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Report online; Why you should report fraud and cybercrime (modified 2025-11-27). Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Consumer Reporting Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.33
Government of Ontario, e-Laws, s. 10(7), adverse action; consolidated from July 1, 2026. Accessed October 22, 2026.
