Tenant Screening Checklist for Ontario Landlords

Published October 26, 2026

This is a tenant screening checklist for landlords who rent out homes in Ontario. It walks through how to screen tenants from the ad to the signed lease, in the order you'll do it. Tick the boxes as you go, or print the page and use it as your rental criteria checklist for every applicant.

In Ontario, screening has firm limits. The Human Rights Code and a short regulation under it, O. Reg. 290/98, set out what you may ask and how you may use it. (Source) For the reasoning behind each step, see our longer guide, Screening Tenants in Ontario, Fairly and Thoroughly.

What the law lets you ask for

Keep this short list in mind. It's the frame for everything below.

• Credit references and rental history. You may ask for either or both. (Source)
• Authorization to run a credit check. You may ask the applicant for it. (Source)
• Income information, but only if you also ask for the items above. You must consider it together with everything else you got. You may look at income alone only if that's all the applicant gave you. (Source)
• A guarantor for the rent. (Source) The Ontario Human Rights Commission says only if you have the same requirement for all tenants. (Source)
• A rent deposit, following the Residential Tenancies Act. (Source) That deposit can't be more than one month's rent, or one rent period if that's shorter. (Source)

The Commission's summary: "Regulation 290/98 under the Code permits no other inquiries." (Source)

Before you advertise

• Write down your rental criteria. Keep them to what the regulation allows: rental history, references, credit, income information and, if you use one, a guarantor rule for everyone.
• Check your criteria against the protected grounds. In housing these include race, colour, ethnic background, religion, ancestry, place of origin, citizenship, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), family status, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, age and receipt of public assistance. (Source)
• Drop any rent-to-income cut-off. The Commission says a rule like "rent must be under 30% of income" is illegal for housing providers, except for subsidized units. (Source)
• Read your ad as an applicant would. The Commission gives "suits a working person" as an example of wording that shuts out people on social assistance or unable to work because of a disability. (Source) Describe the unit, not the tenant you picture.
• Decide the rent, the deposit and the move-in date before the first showing, so every applicant hears the same terms.

The application

• Use one application form for everyone, and ask every applicant the same questions.
• Ask for rental history: current and previous addresses, landlords' names and phone numbers.
• Ask for credit references.
• Ask for authorization to run a credit check. The regulation says you may request it. (Source) Get it in writing, signed and dated on the form, so you can show later that you had it.
• Ask for income information, alongside the items above, never instead of them. (Source) The Commission says it should be limited to confirming the person has enough income to cover the rent. (Source)
• Leave out anything else. No questions about children, plans for a family, country of birth, religion, health or where the income comes from.

The checks

• Call previous landlords, not only the current one. A current landlord who wants a tenant gone may give a glowing reference. Ask simple facts: dates, rent, whether it was paid on time, how the unit was left.
• Check that the landlord you're calling owns or manages the address. A property tax bill or a quick search of the address helps.
• Run the credit check with the authorization you collected.
• Read the credit report for patterns, not a single score. Look at how bills have been paid over time.
• Don't count a thin file against anyone. The Commission says "A lack of rental or credit history should not be viewed negatively." (Source) Students, newcomers and people leaving a family home often have none.
• Confirm income information is consistent with what the applicant told you. Look at the whole picture, not one number.
• Write dated notes of each call and check as you go.

The decision

• Compare each applicant against the criteria you wrote down before you advertised, in the same way.
• Consider income together with the rental history, references and credit information. Use it alone only if nothing else was provided. (Source)
• Apply any guarantor rule to everyone, not only to some applicants. (Source)
• Write one or two sentences on why you chose the applicant you did, and why not the others.
• Tell applicants you didn't choose, politely and promptly.

After you choose

• Sign Ontario's standard lease. It's required for most residential tenancy agreements signed on or after April 30, 2018. (Source) See our post, Ontario's Standard Lease: What Landlords Need to Know.
• Collect the rent deposit, if you take one, on or before signing the lease. It can't be more than one month's rent. (Source)
• Don't take a damage deposit. A rent deposit is the only security deposit a landlord may collect. (Source)
• Don't require post-dated cheques or automatic payments. The Act says neither you nor the lease can require them. (Source)
• Do a move-in walk-through with the tenant. Take dated photos of every room.
• Give receipts for rent and the deposit when asked. They must be free. (Source)
• Keep each applicant's file, including the ones you didn't choose, in one place, and store it securely.

A one-page version

If you want a tenant screening checklist PDF to keep by the phone, print this page from your browser, or copy this short version:

1. Criteria written down before the ad. No rent-to-income rule.
2. Ad describes the unit, not the tenant.
3. Same form and questions for every applicant.
4. Rental history, references, credit check authorization in writing, income information.
5. Call two landlords. Run the credit check.
6. No penalty for a thin file.
7. Decide against your written criteria. Note why.
8. Standard lease. Rent deposit no more than one month. No damage deposit.
9. Move-in photos. Keep the file.

The rules behind each step are short, and they're all in the regulation and the Commission's policy. If you're unsure about one applicant, read the policy on rental housing or talk to a lawyer before you decide.

Once you've chosen a tenant, Rentingwell keeps the tenancy in one place. Add the lease and tenants to the unit, record the deposit and rent in the rent ledger, and put your move-in photos and notes in the property logbook. Start free