What Can a Landlord Ask on a Rental Application in Ontario?

What You Can Ask For

The Human Rights Code gives every person equal treatment in the occupancy of accommodation, without discrimination on sixteen listed grounds.¹ Section 21(3) then makes one specific allowance: a landlord does not infringe that right by using income information, credit checks, credit references, rental history, guarantees or similar business practices, in the manner the regulations prescribe, to select tenants.¹

The regulation is O. Reg. 290/98. It lets a landlord request credit references and rental history information, or either of them, and request authorization to run a credit check. The landlord may consider those results alone or in any combination and select or refuse the applicant on that basis.⁴ A landlord may also require a guarantee for the rent and a rent deposit that follows sections 105 and 106 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006.⁴

So the form can ask for the following, and the answers can carry the decision:

• Credit references, and consent to a credit check.⁴
• Rental history: previous addresses and the landlords at each.⁴
• Income information, on the conditions in the next section.⁴
• A guarantor, as long as the same requirement applies to every applicant and not only to people identified by a Code ground such as newcomers or people receiving social assistance.⁵

The Ontario Human Rights Commission reads the regulation as a closed list: “Regulation 290/98 under the Code permits no other inquiries.”⁵ Its position is that nothing in the regulation permits asking for employment history, so confirm current income rather than collecting a work record.⁶

The Income Rule: Ask Only Alongside the Rest

Income information may be requested only if the landlord also requests the credit references, rental history and credit check authorization in section 1(1), and it may be used to assess the applicant only together with all the other information those requests produced.⁴ If, after asking for everything, income is the only information that comes back, the landlord may consider it alone.⁴

The OHRC says income information should be limited to confirming that the person has enough income to cover the rent, and that applying a rent-to-income ratio such as a 30% cut-off rule is illegal.⁵ Income information covers the amount, the source and the steadiness of the applicant’s income, and the OHRC’s position is that a landlord may verify only that the applicant has a source of income, not assess or judge what type of source it is.⁶

The exception is rent-geared-to-income housing. For the social and public housing units listed in the regulation, a landlord may request and use income information to decide eligibility for a geared-to-income rent without the combination rule.⁴

In practice: a line for monthly income is fine on a form that also collects references and credit consent, and the figure is read beside the credit and rental history. Leave the source of income and the place of employment off the form. The OHRC warns that a source-of-income question can reveal receipt of social assistance, and it points to a landlord federation’s universal application form that asks neither.⁶ The verification you run afterward will show where the money comes from; the point is not to ask on the form or to weigh the type of source in the decision. A fixed ratio rule, or a form that asks for income and nothing else, is out as well.

Questions That Raise a Human Rights Problem

The grounds in section 2(1) are race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability and the receipt of public assistance.¹ The regulation repeats that nothing in it authorizes refusing accommodation on any of them.⁴

A question does not have to name a ground to cause a problem. Under section 11, a requirement that is neutral on its face but excludes a group identified by a ground is constructive discrimination, unless it is reasonable and bona fide in the circumstances.³ The OHRC’s rental housing policy gives examples of where application forms and ads go wrong:

• A source-of-income question can reveal that the applicant receives social assistance.⁶
• Asking for the ages of household members has been found to be a prima facie act of discrimination based on family status.⁶
• Ads that read “suits a working person”, “adults only”, “working people only” or “professionals only”.⁶
• Treating no rental history as a bad rental history, or refusing an applicant because of where they lived before.⁶
• Treating no credit history as a bad credit rating.⁶
• Asking for a Social Insurance Number to run a credit check; the OHRC says housing providers should use other means.⁶
• Requiring a security deposit, a guarantor or direct payment of rent by a third party only from applicants in a Code-protected group.⁶

Section 13 makes publishing a notice that signals an intention to discriminate an infringement in itself, which is why the wording of a listing matters as much as the form.³ And the Code protects sixteen and seventeen year olds who have withdrawn from parental control: they have the same right to equal treatment in occupancy, and a lease they sign is enforceable as if they were eighteen, so a flat minimum age of 18 on the form is not safe.²

Criminal and police record checks sit outside the regulation. The OHRC notes that neither section 21(3) nor O. Reg. 290/98 permits or prohibits them in rental housing, so any check you run still has to respect the Code grounds and privacy law.⁶

Credit Checks: Notice and Consent

Two more laws sit beside the Code. Ontario’s Consumer Reporting Act lets a consumer reporting agency give a report to a person who intends to use it to enter into or renew a tenancy agreement, and bars anyone from requesting a report containing personal information unless they first give the consumer written notice and, on request, the name and address of the agency supplying it.⁷ The notice has to be set out in bold type or underlined, in letters at least ten point in size.⁷

Federally, landlords handling applicants’ personal information must comply with PIPEDA or a provincial law deemed substantially similar; Ontario has no such private-sector law, so PIPEDA applies.^8,10 The Privacy Commissioner expects express consent before a credit check, says a basic check needs only the applicant’s name, address and date of birth, and advises against requiring a Social Insurance Number.⁸

The same guidance covers the rest of the file. A landlord may ask to see a driver’s licence or a pay stub, but each request is a collection of personal information: explain the purpose, collect only what that purpose needs, and keep it no longer than necessary. Viewing a licence to confirm identity, or a stub to confirm income, likely does not require keeping a copy.⁸ Reference and background checks need consent too, and the Commissioner advises against informal checks through social media or ad hoc “bad tenant” lists.⁹

How to Word the Application Form

For a listing agent, the safest form is the regulation’s list and nothing that reveals a ground:

1. Ask for name, current and previous addresses with landlord contacts, references, consent to a credit check, monthly income as an amount, and whether a guarantor is offered.⁴
2. Print the credit-check notice in bold or underlined type of at least ten point, with a line saying the applicant can ask which agency supplies the report.⁷
3. Collect date of birth for the credit check only, and say so on the form.⁸
4. Leave off source of income, place of employment, Social Insurance Number, marital status, the number and ages of children, citizenship or immigration status, religion, disability, and any tick-box that separates employment from social assistance.⁶
5. Apply every requirement to every applicant. A guarantor or deposit asked of one is asked of all.⁵
6. Keep a short written note of why the chosen applicant was selected, in terms of the criteria the regulation allows. The OHRC says housing providers should rely on objective, standardized criteria and be prepared to show how they chose.⁶

This page is general information about Ontario law, not legal advice. Where a situation turns on its facts, get advice from a lawyer or a community legal clinic.

Questions

Sources

1. 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.

2. Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19

   Government of Ontario, e-Laws, s. 4, accommodation of person under eighteen. Accessed October 22, 2026.

3. Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19

   Government of Ontario, e-Laws, ss. 11(1) constructive discrimination and 13(1) announced intention to discriminate. Accessed October 22, 2026.

4. 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 to March 8, 2018. Accessed October 22, 2026.

5. Policy on human rights and rental housing

   Ontario Human Rights Commission, Overview, Choosing tenants. Accessed October 22, 2026.

6. Policy on human rights and rental housing, V. Identifying discrimination in rental housing

   Ontario Human Rights Commission, ss. 4.1.1, 4.1.2.1, 4.1.2.3 and 4.2 to 4.2.9. Accessed October 22, 2026.

7. Consumer Reporting Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.33

   Government of Ontario, e-Laws, ss. 8(1)(d)(ii), 10(2) and 10(6), consolidated to July 1, 2026. Accessed October 22, 2026.

8. 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?; How should landlords be obtaining my consent?; Does a landlord require my Social Insurance Number?; Can a landlord ask to see my driver’s licence? My tax information? My pay stubs?. Accessed October 22, 2026.

9. 10 privacy tips for the rental housing sector

   Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Tips 1, 2, 5 and 9. Accessed October 22, 2026.

10. PIPEDA in brief

    Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Which organizations does PIPEDA apply to?; substantially similar provincial legislation. Accessed October 22, 2026.