what are past landlords legall allowed to say?

Nosotros speak with a lawyer at Customs Legal Services about what questions landlords tin ask prospective tenants.

There are limits on what landlords are allowed to ask potential tenants under Ontario's Residential Tenancies Human action. (iStock)

With the vacancy charge per unit in London's rental market now hovering at around 1.7 per cent, many renters who spoke to CBC said they're often subjected to increased scrutiny by landlords.

To larn which questions landlords are allowed to ask, nosotros spoke with Ian Dantzer, a lawyer and review counsel with Community Legal Services (CLS) at Western University.

Office of Western'due south law faculty, CLS acts on behalf of students and low-income tenants in disputes with landlords.

"We act for anybody who has a tenant rights or enforcement issue," he said.

Hither'southward what he said well-nigh the following questions that renters told us they've been asked by landlords, based on Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act.

ane. What's your income?

Allowed or non? Allowed.Landlords can ask for income information, credit checks, credit references and rental history.

1 wrinkle: It's not legal for a landlord to utilize any kind of hire-to-income ratio in considering a prospective tenant.

"You can check to come across if they've got an income, and information technology is enough to pay the rent," said Dantzer. "But because I choose to hire an $800-a-month apartment and earn $one,000 a month shouldn't exclude me from renting it. If I feel I can live on $200 a month, that's my concern. If they have enough money to comprehend the rent, they shouldn't exist excluded based on income alone."

2. Have you ever been in a dispute heard past the Landlord and Tenant Board?

Allowed or not? No. Landlords aren't immune to ask about this in assessing potential tenants.

iii. Do yous have pets?

It'southward not legal under Ontario's Residential Tenancy Act for a landlord to disqualify a prospective tenant considering they have pets, but this rule doesn't utilize to condos, which are governed past different legislation. (Calgary Humane Order)

Allowed or not? This remains a somewhat muddy event, and to sympathise it we take to talk over three documents: The Ontario Residential Tenancies Human activity (RTA), the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Ontario Man Correct'due south Commission's policies regarding housing.

Showtime, the RTA lays out what landlords can enquire in Section 10 'Selecting Prospective Tenants':

"In selecting prospective tenants, landlords may utilise, in the fashion prescribed in the regulations fabricated under the Human being Rights Code, income information, credit checks, credit references, rental history, guarantees, or other similar business practices equally prescribed in those regulations."

And then outside of what'due south specified here in the RTA, the landlords take to follow the regulations under the Human Rights Code. The section of the HCR that applies is 290/98. You tin read that here just it essentially spells out what data landlords can ask of prospective tenants. Again, it's substantially about rental history, credit checks and other coin issues — not pets.

However, the Ontario Human Rights Commission has a policy document that says tenants are not immune to be refused an apartment for reasons such every bit race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, inability, etc. The document also spells out business practices in choosing tenants. Once again information technology's mainly focused on bug regarding the tenant's income, rental history and references. But the terminal line of the policy states the regulation under the code "permits no other inquiries."

Information technology'south that "no other inquires line" that Dantzer believes makes it clear that landlords tin't ask prospective tenants about pets.

"The policy makes information technology very articulate that after the enumerated financial criteria allowed to be used in selecting prospective tenants, no other inquiries are permitted. Catamenia," said Dantzer. "This makes information technology clear to me that a landlord cannot ask nigh pets when selecting a prospective tenant."

Just here's the thing. Some lawyers don't agree.

Among them is Harry Fine. He's a paralegal and onetime Landlord Tenant Board adjudicator.

Fine said Dantzer places too much weight on the policies of the HRC, rather than the applicable laws.

"The policy guideline is non law," said Fine. "They are a guide just finders of fact aren't bound past them." Fine says if legislators explicitly wanted landlords to be barred from asking about pets, it would say and so in the RTA.

"The Landlord and Tenant Lath doesn't look at that guideline," said Fine.

One thing that is clear is that any tenancy agreement "prohibiting the presence of animals in or about the residential complex is void." That's in section xiv of the RTA. So a "no pets" charter is not legal.

I note: These rules don't apply to condominiums, which are not governed by the Residential Tenancies Act. "Pets in condos are probable to be restricted by the declarations, bylaws and the rules. And that is permitted nether the Condominium Act," said Dantzer.

4. Take you rented earlier?

Allowed or not? Allowed. "Y'all can ask near their rental history: Have they rented before and for how long."

v. Are you on social assistance?

Immune or not? No. Nether Section x of the Human action "Selecting prospective tenants" a landlord must comply with the Human being Rights Lawmaking which bars discrimination because of "the receipt of public aid." Similarly, prospective tenants can non be denied accommodation for reasons related to "race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, indigenous origin, citizenship, creed, sexual activity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability."

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Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/questions-renters-landlords-1.4751954