Why a Pay Stub Is Not Verification
A pay stub is a document the employer owes the employee. Ontario’s Employment Standards Act requires a written statement on or before each pay day showing the pay period, the wage rate if there is one, gross wages and how they were calculated, each deduction and its purpose, and the net amount paid.1 It may be sent by email, so a stub usually reaches you as a PDF the applicant forwards.1
That makes it easy to produce and easy to alter. Stub generators are a search away, and an edited PDF looks like the original. The same is true of an employment letter: it proves that someone wrote it, and the phone number printed on it rings whoever the applicant chose.
Verification means getting the fact from where it is created: the payroll system that pays the applicant, or the bank account where the pay lands.
| Evidence | Who produces it | What it proves by itself |
|---|---|---|
| Pay stub, uploaded | The employer, then the applicant forwards it | The fields the Act requires, if nobody edited them1 |
| Employment letter | Whoever the applicant says is the employer | A claim on letterhead, until you reach the employer through a number you found yourself |
| Payroll record, connected | The payroll provider, with the applicant’s login | Employer, employment status and income as the payroll system holds them |
| Bank deposits, connected | The bank, with the applicant’s login | Pay arriving, how often, and from whom |
Step 1: Pull the Payroll Record
Payroll verification works like a bank connection: the applicant signs in to their payroll provider inside the screening flow and authorizes the pull. The record comes straight from the source and confirms the employer, the employment status and the income without anyone retyping it. PropTx Verify integrates with payroll providers to verify employment this way, which replaces the slow employer call for most applicants.
Compare what the record shows with what the application says: the employer name, whether the status is active, and whether the income matches the figure the applicant wrote down. If the record carries a start date or a pay rate, check them against the stated tenure and the stub.
The applicant is handing over sensitive financial information, which under the Privacy Commissioner’s consent guidelines calls for express consent: say what is collected, why, and who will see it.4 A screening service that collects that consent from the applicant directly keeps the REALTOR® out of the chain of custody for pay data.
Step 2: Read the Bank Deposits
Not every employer runs payroll through a provider the applicant can connect, and a self-employed applicant has no payroll at all. The second source is the account where the income lands. When the applicant connects it, you see the deposits, their frequency and their payer. In PropTx Verify, bank income is the fallback when payroll data is not available, and payroll is the fallback when bank data is not.
The deposit pattern answers the questions a stub cannot:
- Regular deposits on a payroll cadence, biweekly or semi-monthly, from an employer name.
- Net amounts that match the net pay on the stub, pay period by pay period.
- Deposits that begin around the start date the applicant claims.
- A single large transfer shortly before the application, which deserves a question rather than a conclusion.
Payer names are whatever the bank shows. Some employers pay through a payroll company, so the name on the deposit differs from the employer’s. Ask before you decide.
One Ontario rule applies to everything in this step. The amount, source and steadiness of an applicant’s income are “income information”, and a landlord may consider income only together with the credit references, rental history and credit check also requested, not on its own.3,2 Read what you learn here beside the rest of the file, not instead of it. The details are in What Can a Landlord Ask on a Rental Application in Ontario?.
When You Still Need a Call
A call is still the right tool when:
- Neither payroll nor a bank account can be connected and the applicant uploads documents instead.
- The applicant’s employer does not use a payroll provider the applicant can connect.
- The job is new and there is no deposit history yet.
- The applicant is self-employed and the deposits are irregular.
- Something does not line up between the stub, the letter and the deposits.
Make the call through a number you found yourself, on the company’s website or in a directory, never the number on the letter. Ask for payroll or human resources, confirm employment status, job title and start date, and ask nothing that touches a Human Rights Code ground. Get the applicant’s consent first: the Privacy Commissioner expects landlords to obtain consent for reference and background checks, and advises against informal checks such as reading the applicant’s social media.5
Alex, PropTx Verify’s voice assistant, places these calls around the clock and confirms employment status, income and job title with the employer, and tenancy history with previous landlords. See how a call works.
Red Flags on Uploaded Documents
When uploads are the only evidence, read them against the law and against each other:
- A stub missing a field the Act requires: no pay period, no wage rate where one would exist, no breakdown of deductions.1
- Round numbers for gross pay and deductions, or deductions that do not reconcile to gross minus net.
- An employer address or phone number that matches nothing public.
- An employment letter whose only contact is a mobile number or a personal email domain.
- Dates that disagree between the stub, the letter and the bank deposits.
- PDF metadata naming a stub generator. The absence of such metadata proves nothing; a careful forger clears it.
PropTx Verify runs fraud detection on manual uploads and treats them as weaker evidence than a connected source, so a report built on uploads reads differently from one built on payroll and bank data.
What to Record
Keep the verified facts with the application: employer, status, income, which source confirmed each one, and the date. Keep documents only as long as the purpose needs them; the Privacy Commissioner notes that viewing a stub to confirm income likely does not require keeping a copy.5 And record the decision in terms of the whole file, because in Ontario income is weighed with the credit and rental history, never alone.2
Questions
Can a Landlord Call an Applicant’s Employer?
Yes, with the applicant’s consent; the Privacy Commissioner expects landlords to obtain consent for reference and background checks. Call a number you found independently and confirm only employment status, job title and start date.5
What Does a Legitimate Ontario Pay Stub Show?
The pay period, the wage rate if there is one, gross wages and how they were calculated, each deduction and its purpose, and net pay. Ontario’s Employment Standards Act requires employers to give this statement on or before pay day.1
Is a Letter of Employment Enough?
No. A letter proves only that someone wrote it. Treat it as a lead: confirm the employer exists, reach payroll or HR through a number you found yourself, and compare the letter with payroll or deposit evidence.
Can You Decide on Income Alone?
Usually not in Ontario. O. Reg. 290/98 lets a landlord consider income only together with the credit references, rental history and credit check also requested, unless income is the only information that comes back.2
Sources
- Employment Standards Act, 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 41
Government of Ontario, e-Laws, s. 12(1) and (3), statement re wages, consolidated to January 1, 2026. 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(3) to (5). Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Policy on human rights and rental housing, V. Identifying discrimination in rental housing
Ontario Human Rights Commission, s. 4.2.1 Income requirements. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Guidelines for obtaining meaningful consent
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Form of consent: when express consent is required. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Privacy in the landlord and tenant relationship
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Can a landlord ask to see my driver’s licence? My tax information? My pay stubs?; Can a landlord look into my background by looking at what I post on social media or by calling another landlord?. Accessed October 22, 2026.
