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Declining an applicant for the wrong reason — even unintentionally — can expose you to a human rights complaint. Here's exactly what Ontario's Human Rights Code allows you to consider, and what it explicitly doesn't.

The Full List of Protected Grounds

Under the Ontario Human Rights Code, you cannot refuse a rental applicant based on: race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed (religion), sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or receipt of public assistance (source of income). This protection also extends to someone facing discrimination because they're a friend or relative of a person identified by one of these grounds.

What This Means in Practice

You cannot refuse a family with children. Under the "family status" ground, denying housing because an applicant has children is discrimination — adult-only buildings aren't permitted in Ontario except for specific exemptions like subsidized seniors' housing.

You cannot refuse someone because their income comes from social assistance. "Receipt of public assistance" is a protected ground — you can still assess whether their total income supports the rent, but you cannot reject an applicant simply because of where that income comes from.

You cannot apply different standards to different applicants. If you require a guarantor, you must require one under the same conditions for every applicant — not just for applicants identified by a Code ground, such as recent immigrants or people receiving social assistance.

What You're Allowed to Ask and Consider

Ontario's Regulation 290/98 under the Human Rights Code permits landlords to request:

• Income information — but only if you also request credit references, rental history, and a credit check from every applicant, and you must consider all of this information together, not income alone.

• Credit checks and credit references.

• Rental history, including previous landlord references.

• A guarantor, applied consistently to every applicant under the same criteria.

The key principle: these tools must be used in a genuine, consistent, non-discriminatory way — not selectively applied to screen out applicants based on a Code ground.

What "Genuine and Non-Discriminatory" Actually Means

If your income, credit, or reference criteria end up creating a systemic barrier for people identified by a Code ground, you may be required to show the criteria is a genuine business requirement — one that couldn't reasonably be applied in a more accommodating way. Applying your criteria inconsistently between applicants (different rent for different people, requiring a deposit from some but not others, requesting "direct payment" only from certain applicants) can itself be evidence of discrimination.

What About Criminal Record Checks?

There's no law preventing a landlord from asking about a criminal record, but the Ontario Human Rights Commission recommends against it — a criminal record unrelated to the tenancy generally shouldn't be grounds for refusal, and using it as a screening factor carries real discrimination risk depending on how it's applied.

What Legitimate Reasons to Decline Actually Look Like

• Income that genuinely doesn't support the rent, based on a consistent standard applied to every applicant.

• A poor credit history or concerning references, evaluated consistently across all applicants.

• A previous landlord reference indicating genuine tenancy issues (property damage, consistent late payment), not vague or unsubstantiated concerns.

Documentation Is Your Best Protection

If you decline an applicant, keep a clear record of the specific, legitimate reason — tied to income, credit, or references, applied consistently with how you evaluate every applicant. If a declined applicant later claims discrimination, your ability to show a documented, consistent, non-discriminatory reason is your primary defence.

The Bottom Line

Ontario's Human Rights Code gives landlords real, legitimate tools to screen applicants — income verification, credit checks, references — but requires those tools be applied consistently and never used as a proxy to screen out someone based on a protected ground. Getting this right protects both your business and the applicants you're evaluating.

Want help building a screening and decline process that's both thorough and compliant? Our 12-step verification process is built with exactly this consistency in mind — contact our team to learn more.

This article summarizes general Ontario Human Rights Code principles and is not legal advice. Consult a paralegal or lawyer for guidance specific to your situation.

This is one of the most consistently misunderstood rules in Ontario landlord-tenant law: you cannot charge a separate pet deposit, even though many landlords assume they can. Here's what the rule actually says, and what real options you have instead.

The Rule That Surprises Most Landlords

Under the Residential Tenancies Act, landlords in Ontario cannot charge a pet deposit, damage deposit, or any deposit beyond the standard rent deposit (commonly first and last month's rent) and, in limited circumstances, a key deposit. This applies regardless of whether the tenant has a pet — a "pet deposit" clause in a lease is generally unenforceable, even if the tenant agreed to it at signing.

Why This Rule Exists

The RTA is designed to cap what landlords can require upfront specifically to prevent a patchwork of additional deposits that could functionally price out tenants or create disputes over what portion of a deposit is refundable. Pet deposits fall into this restricted category regardless of good intentions on the landlord's part.

Can You Have a "No Pets" Clause At All?

This is the second surprising piece: a blanket "no pets" clause in a lease is also generally unenforceable in Ontario. Under the RTA, a provision in a tenancy agreement prohibiting animals is void — a landlord cannot terminate a tenancy or refuse to renew simply because a tenant has a pet, even if the original lease said no pets were allowed.

There are limited exceptions, generally tied to a condominium corporation's own enforceable rules (which operate under the Condominium Act, not the RTA) or specific circumstances involving a pet causing a genuine safety issue or substantial interference with other tenants' reasonable enjoyment of the property.

What Landlords Can Actually Do Instead

Screen for pet history during the application process. Ask directly about pets during screening — as part of a thorough tenant screening process — and factor pet ownership into your overall risk assessment for a specific applicant, the same way you'd weigh any other application detail.

Address damage through the standard rent deposit and legal recourse. If a pet causes damage beyond normal wear and tear, that's addressed the same way any other tenant-caused damage would be — through the standard security options available to landlords and, if necessary, through the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Include reasonable pet-related terms that don't amount to a ban. Reasonable, RTA-compliant additional terms — like requiring pets be leashed in common areas, or limiting the number of pets — are more likely to hold up than an outright prohibition, though even these should be drafted carefully.

Rely on condo corporation rules where applicable, if you're renting out a unit in a building with its own enforceable pet restrictions under the Condominium Act — these operate somewhat independently of the RTA's tenant protections.

What This Means Practically for Your Screening Process

Since you can't collect a pet deposit or enforce a blanket ban, your best protection is thorough screening upfront — asking about pet history, checking previous landlord references specifically about pet-related damage, and factoring that information into your overall tenant selection the same way you would income or credit history.

The Bottom Line

Ontario's rules around pets are more tenant-protective than most landlords assume — no separate pet deposits, and no enforceable blanket bans in most cases. The real protection lies in thorough screening before you sign a lease, not in deposit structures or prohibition clauses that likely won't hold up if challenged.

Want help building pet-related questions into your screening process the right way? Contact our team — or see our full verification process for how we handle this for every applicant.

This article summarizes general Residential Tenancies Act principles and is not legal advice. Consult a paralegal or lawyer for guidance specific to your situation.

Most Ontario landlords know they're required to use the province's Standard Lease form — fewer know exactly what it locks in versus where genuine flexibility still exists. Here's a clear breakdown.

Why the Standard Lease Exists

Ontario requires most private residential tenancies to use the government-mandated Standard Lease form, intended to make lease terms clearer and more consistent for both landlords and tenants, and to reduce disputes over ambiguous or one-sided lease clauses. Using an outdated or non-compliant lease template isn't just a technicality — it can affect your ability to enforce certain terms if a dispute reaches the Landlord and Tenant Board.

What's Mandatory and Can't Be Changed

• The core lease structure and required sections — rent amount, services and utilities included, deposit and NSF fee rules, and the tenant's rights around assignment and subletting all follow the mandated format.

• Rules that exist regardless of what the lease says. Some Residential Tenancies Act protections apply whether or not a landlord includes them in the lease — a landlord cannot contract out of a tenant's fundamental RTA rights simply by omitting or altering a clause.

• Standard notice requirements. Termination and notice period rules follow provincial requirements regardless of what a landlord might prefer to specify.

Where Landlords Actually Have Flexibility

Additional terms in Schedule A. The Standard Lease includes space for landlords to add their own additional terms — provided those terms don't conflict with the RTA or attempt to waive a tenant's legal rights. This is where most of a landlord's actual customization happens: pet policies (within legal limits), specific maintenance responsibilities, parking arrangements, and building-specific rules.

Rent amount and initial terms. For a new tenancy, landlords have full flexibility to set the opening rent at whatever the market supports — the rent increase guideline only restricts increases on an existing tenancy, not what you charge a new tenant.

Parking and additional services. Whether parking, storage, or other add-ons are included in rent or charged separately is generally the landlord's call, provided it's clearly documented in the lease.

Common Mistakes Landlords Make With the Standard Lease

• Using an outdated version of the form. The Standard Lease has been updated over time — using an old template can create ambiguity about which rules actually apply.

• Adding terms that conflict with the RTA. Any additional term that attempts to waive a tenant's fundamental rights — for example, a blanket "no guests" clause — is generally unenforceable regardless of whether the tenant signed it.

• Leaving Schedule A blank when specific building or property rules genuinely need documenting. Verbal agreements about parking, storage, or maintenance responsibilities are far harder to enforce than terms actually written into the lease.

• Not providing the lease at all, or providing it late. Landlords are generally required to provide a copy of the signed lease to the tenant within a set timeframe — failing to do so can affect a landlord's ability to enforce certain terms later.

What This Means for New Landlords Specifically

If you're leasing out a property for the first time — including a newly converted secondary suite — getting the Standard Lease right from day one avoids the far more common and costly mistake of trying to retroactively add terms partway through a tenancy, which is generally far harder to enforce than getting it right at signing.

The Bottom Line

The Ontario Standard Lease gives landlords less room to customize core terms than many expect, but genuine flexibility exists in the additional terms section — provided those terms respect the RTA's baseline protections. Getting this right at signing avoids disputes that are far more expensive to resolve later.

Want help making sure your lease and additional terms are properly documented and enforceable? Contact our team — we help GTA landlords get this right from the start.

This article summarizes general Residential Tenancies Act principles and is not legal advice. Consult a paralegal or lawyer for guidance specific to your situation.