What inquiries is a landlord permitted to make when a potential tenant is submitting an application for a rental unit?
A landlord has the right to inquire about rental history, credit references, and conduct a credit check through agencies like Equifax or TransUnion, as authorized by a prospective tenant. It is essential for the landlord to refrain from making discriminatory decisions during the tenant selection process.
What May Constitute As Human Rights Code Violations When Advertising For, and Screening Out, Tenant Applications
The landlord’s enterprise is indeed regarded as a legitimate business. Consequently, while a home is typically considered an essential service,
Robust protections are established to oversee and manage the residential rental industry, outlining specific duties, obligations, and responsibilities for both landlords and tenants. Beyond governing the tenancy relationship, these protections also extend to matters preceding and encompassing the establishment of a landlord and tenant relationship..
The Law
As an extension of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, the Regulation titled “Business Practices Permissible to Landlords in Selecting Prospective Tenants for Residential Accommodation,” O. Reg. 290/98, outlines various practices that landlords are permitted to undertake when assessing tenancy applications. In its entirety, the regulation declares:
Permitted Inquiries
In accordance to O. Reg. 290/98, as a Regulation to the Human Rights Code, the business practices available to a landlord when selecting tenants include various confirmations of financial capacity and dependability including review and investigation of past rental history, reference checks, as well as requesting authorization to perform credit checks via Equifax or TransUnion. The right to review, investigate, and consider, these details as qualifiers for tenancy applicants is provided per section 1(1) of the Regulation; and accordingly, a landlord may make inquiry for deeper information related to any of these concerns such as performing reference checks such as contacting a prior landlord for information regarding any concerns relating to timely rent payment, damage issues, among other things. Interestingly, per section 1(3) of the Regulation, a landlord may only request income information if the landlord also makes inquiry into the criteria listed in section 1(1), being credit references, rental history, and credit checks, or any of the three; and accordingly, it is unlawful for a landlord to inquire solely of income details. The requirement that a landlord make inquiry of rental history or credit reference in addition to income inquiry, rather than solely making income inquiry is stated in the case of Kurti v. 2730979 Canada Inc., 2017 HRTO 1181 where it was said:[128] The respondent has provided a credible, non-discriminatory explanation for its denial of the applicant’s rental application. O. Reg. 290/98 under the Code permits a landlord to request and consider credit references, credit checks and rental history information in order to assess a prospective tenant: see s. 1(1) and (2). Further, this regulation permits a landlord who has requested the foregoing information also to request and consider income information in order to assess a prospective tenant, as long as such income information is considered together with all of the other information provided by the prospective tenant: see s. 1(3) and (4).
Requiring a Guarantor
Where a landlord is concerned with the capacity of an applicant to fulfill the obligations and responsibilities of tenancy, the landlord may, per section 2(1) of the Regulation, require a guarantor (co-signer) as a person willing and able to step up financially on behalf of the applicant should the applicant become a tenant and subsequently default on the various obligations and responsibilities of a tenant. Interestingly, the Regulation is silent on criteria that may be asked of, and reviewed, in regards to the person who shall stand as the guarantor.Security Deposit
A landlord is allowed to require a security deposit for rent per section 2(2) of the Regulation; however, whereas such permits so only in accordance to section 105 and section 106 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, Chapter 17, such a deposit is permissible only for the risk of unpaid rent and in a maximum amount of the rent applicable to one rental period or one month.Summary Comment
The details that a landlord can seek from a prospective tenant are, in part, governed by specific regulations outlined in the Human Rights Code. A landlord is allowed to request rental history information and credit references and, with the tenant’s consent, conduct credit checks through agencies like Equifax and TransUnion. When seeking rental history information or credit references, the landlord may also inquire about income details. Notably, without simultaneously seeking rental history or credit references, the landlord is prohibited from solely inquiring about income details. Crucially, landlords must refrain from engaging in discriminatory conduct, such as selecting tenants based on protected factors like race, gender, family status, and others.Learn About :
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