What Does a Complete Screening Check?
A screening answers one question for the landlord: will this applicant pay the rent and keep the tenancy in good order? Six checks feed that answer. Each one is only as good as where the information came from, so the right-hand column matters more than the left.
| Check | What it answers | Strongest source |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | Is the applicant who they say they are? | A government ID checked against its issuer, matched to the person applying |
| Credit | How has the applicant handled debt? | A credit report pulled from the bureau with the applicant’s consent, not a PDF the applicant supplies |
| Income | Is there enough income to cover the rent? | Deposits in a bank account the applicant connects |
| Employment | Is the job real and current? | A payroll record the applicant connects, or a call to the employer through a number you found yourself |
| Rental history | How did previous tenancies go? | Previous landlords, reached directly |
| Records | Is there a public record the landlord should know about? | Court and tribunal records, read with care (see below) |
A tenant screening report puts the results in one document. PropTx Verify runs the credit check as a soft check with Equifax, verifies employment through payroll providers, reads income from connected bank accounts, and contacts previous landlords for references. The order of the work is in How to Screen a Tenant in Ontario, Step by Step.
What Ontario Law Lets You Ask
Every person has a right to equal treatment in the occupancy of housing without discrimination on sixteen grounds, including age, family status, citizenship, disability and the receipt of public assistance.1 The Code then allows landlords to use income information, credit checks, credit references, rental history and guarantees to select tenants, but only in the way the regulation prescribes.1
That regulation, O. Reg. 290/98, is short. A landlord may:
- Ask for credit references and rental history, and for authorization to run a credit check, and select or refuse on those alone or in any combination.2
- Ask for income information only when also asking for the items above, and weigh income only together with them. If income is the only thing that comes back, it may be weighed alone.2
- Require a guarantee for the rent, and a deposit that follows the Residential Tenancies Act.2
The Ontario Human Rights Commission reads that list as closed and adds three positions that change everyday practice: a rent-to-income cut-off such as 30% is illegal, income should only confirm the applicant can cover the rent, and no rental or credit history must not be treated as a bad one.3 Its policy also says nothing in the regulation permits asking for employment history.4
Two privacy rules sit beside the Code. Ontario’s Consumer Reporting Act requires written notice to the applicant before you request a consumer report, printed in bold or underlined type of at least ten point.5 And the Privacy Commissioner expects landlords to get express consent before a credit check and says a basic check needs only name, address and date of birth, not a Social Insurance Number.6
The detail is in four pages: What Can a Landlord Ask on a Rental Application in Ontario?, credit check consent and privacy, income requirements and rent-to-income ratios and the Human Rights Code and tenant selection.
Record Checks Are a Separate Question
The OHRC notes that neither the Code nor the regulation permits or prohibits criminal or police record checks for rental housing, and that requiring one can have an adverse impact on people protected by the Code.4 Treat a records result as information to read in context, get consent before any check, and don’t let it stand in for the criteria the regulation names.6
Where Fraud Gets In
Most application fraud is a document problem. Fake credit reports, bank statements, pay stubs and employment letters are easy to make, and an edited PDF looks like the real one. The fraud shows up wherever the applicant hands you the evidence instead of letting you get it from the source.
- A credit report the applicant downloads and sends you. Pull your own with their consent. See why a tenant-supplied credit report is not enough.
- Pay stubs with round numbers or deductions that don’t add up. See how to spot a fake pay stub.
- Bank statements that don’t match the deposits a connected account shows. See how to spot fake bank statements.
- An employment letter whose only contact is a mobile number. Reach the employer through a number you found yourself. See fake employment letters.
- An identity built from real and invented details, which can pass a quick look at a photo ID. See tenant identity fraud.
The fix is the same each time: verify at the source. When an applicant can’t connect payroll or a bank account, PropTx Verify falls back from one to the other, and runs fraud detection on uploaded documents while treating them as weaker evidence. The listing agent’s view of all of this is in Rental Application Fraud: Red Flags for Listing Agents.
How Long Does Screening Take?
It depends mostly on the applicant. Checks that read from a source the applicant connects, such as payroll, a bank account or a credit pull, are done once the applicant gives consent and signs in. The slow parts are the ones that need another person: a previous landlord returning a call, an employer confirming a job, or an applicant who has to find their documents.
Three things shorten the wait. Send the screening request as soon as the applicant says yes, so consent and connections happen the same day. Collect landlord and employer contacts on the application so nobody has to chase them. And let calls run outside office hours: PropTx Verify’s voice assistant, Alex, calls employers and previous landlords around the clock to confirm employment, income, job title and tenancy history. See how a call works.
What to Give the Landlord
The landlord needs enough to decide and a record of how the decision was made. For each applicant you present, that means:
- The screening report, with each item showing where it was verified.
- A short note on anything that didn’t verify, and what the applicant said about it.
- The applicant’s signed consent to the checks.6
- The criteria you applied, the same for every applicant. The OHRC says housing providers should use objective, standardized criteria and be ready to show how they chose.4
- Any guarantor or deposit terms, asked of every applicant alike. The only security deposit an Ontario landlord may collect is a rent deposit of no more than one month’s or one period’s rent, whichever is less.7
When several applicants are in play, a side-by-side read saves the landlord time. Chat with Report lets you ask questions of a finished report in plain English and compare applicants. How to lay out the package is in How Listing Agents Present Tenant Applicants to a Landlord.
If the landlord turns an applicant down because of information in a consumer report, the Consumer Reporting Act requires whoever used that information to tell the applicant so, and to name the reporting agency if the applicant asks within sixty days.5 Agree in advance who sends that notice.
This page is general information about Ontario law, not legal advice. Where a situation turns on its facts, get advice from a lawyer, a licensed paralegal or a community legal clinic.
Questions
Is Tenant Screening Legal in Ontario?
Yes. The Human Rights Code and O. Reg. 290/98 let landlords use credit checks, credit references, rental history, income information and guarantees to choose tenants, as long as they are not used to discriminate on a Code ground.1,2
Does a Landlord Need Consent to Run a Credit Check?
Yes. The regulation speaks of the applicant’s authorization, the Consumer Reporting Act requires written notice first, and the Privacy Commissioner expects express consent.2,5,6
Can a Landlord Use a 30% Rent-to-Income Rule?
The Ontario Human Rights Commission says no: applying a rent-to-income cut-off such as 30% is illegal, and income should only confirm that the applicant can cover the rent.3
Sources
- Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19
Government of Ontario, e-Laws, ss. 2(1) and 21(3), consolidated to July 1, 2025. 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, ss. 1 and 2, consolidated to March 8, 2018. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Policy on human rights and rental housing
Ontario Human Rights Commission, Overview, Choosing tenants. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Policy on human rights and rental housing, V. Identifying discrimination in rental housing
Ontario Human Rights Commission, ss. 4.1.2.3, 4.2.2 to 4.2.4 and 4.2.9. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Consumer Reporting Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.33
Government of Ontario, e-Laws, ss. 10(2), 10(6) and 10(7), consolidated to July 1, 2026. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Privacy in the landlord and tenant relationship
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, How should landlords be obtaining my consent?; What personal information do I have to provide to a prospective landlord?; Does a landlord require my Social Insurance Number?; Can a landlord look into my background…?. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17
Government of Ontario, e-Laws, ss. 105(1) and 106(1) to (2), consolidated to September 21, 2026. Accessed October 22, 2026.
