Screening a Quebec tenant: SOQUIJ, credit, and landlord references
A careful, lawful method for confirming identity, credit, references, and TAL decisions involving an applicant.
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How can identity be confirmed without over-collecting information?
Quebec's Commission d'accès à l'information says a landlord may request an applicant's first name, last name, and complete address. Identification may be shown to confirm identity, but the landlord should not copy or photograph it or retain its numbers merely to create a rental file.
Use one consistent application sheet: legal name, current address, contact details, intended occupancy, and required consents. For a credit check, the CAI says name, address, and date of birth are generally sufficient; a social insurance number is not necessary.
Explain what will be checked, why, with whom, and how long information will be kept. Restrict file access and destroy information when it is no longer required under the retention policy and applicable law.
How should SOQUIJ be used without mistaking one person for another?
SOQUIJ's public decision search supports party-name searches and includes the Tribunal administratif du logement among its bodies. Search reasonable name variants, then read the complete decision: being named in a case does not reveal, by itself, who succeeded or why.
Confirm identity through several matching, permitted details — full name, relevant address or time period, role in the case, and compatible facts. A shared name can lead to an unfair refusal. Conversely, no result does not prove no history: some decisions are anonymized, unpublished, or posted after a delay.
Assess only facts relevant to the proposed tenancy. A person may have legitimately exercised a right against a former landlord. Record the objective reason for the decision and apply the same threshold to every applicant.
How do you verify credit, employment, and a former landlord?
Obtain valid consent before requesting a credit report or contacting current and former landlords about payment habits. Assess capacity and payment consistency rather than one score; an applicant may also provide a bank attestation, relevant credit-file excerpts, or other evidence identified by the CAI.
Do not rely only on the phone number supplied for a landlord reference. Independently confirm that the person owns or managed the property — using an assessment roll, a business source, or management documentation — then ask every reference the same factual questions about occupancy dates, payments, notices, move-out condition, and compliance with the lease.
Never use screening to exclude an applicant on a protected ground, and do not demand a prohibited deposit. Structured rental management keeps a written rubric, consents, and an objective decision record while collecting only necessary information.
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