The Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) are perpetually behind in scheduling eviction hearings. According to CBC News, as of November 29, 2024, the wait time was at least three months. Therefore, if a landlord needs to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent, this could cost them thousands of dollars before they can physically get the squatters out of their property.
Not to mention a great deal of stress and frustration.
What is a professional tenant? This is the term for a seasoned renter who is well versed in all of the rental loopholes available to them to take advantage of their landlord. They know the intricacies of the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA) and how the LTB operates, enabling them to live for free or at a large discount on a rented property, at the landlord's expense.
Oftentimes, a professional tenant will also know how to pass a generic background check completed by a large named company, because these businesses only look at the surface information of paperwork.
Agent K. prides herself on offering an extensive, thorough, complete background check on the potential tenant, including verifying all the information found.
Here are seven reasons why a landlord should request a thorough background check be completed on their potential tenant.
7. Is this person really who they say they are?
Just because 'Matt Smith' wrote down his name on your rental application, does not mean that he is the real Matt Smith who will be potentially moving into your rental property. But does this really matter as long as they're paying the rent? Absolutely it does.
If you need to evict a tenant from your property for any reason, the LTB will review the terms of your signed lease to determine if your tenant has broken their side of the contract and therefore issue you your requested eviction documentation.
But, if the tenant who signed your lease did so fraudulently, then there is a risk of your eviction claim being dismissed by the LTB because you did not serve your legal documentation on the correct person. The person who rented your property by signing the paperwork may have created a fake identity or posed as a relative in order to trick you into renting to them.
Then the landlord is forced to file different paperwork altogether to try to evict the people physically occupying the property, nevertheless try to confirm the true names and identities of those people. This situation can then lead to further wasted time, costs and frustrations. So how is a landlord to verify the true identity of their potential renter?
As part of Agent K.'s thorough potential tenant background check, she uses a valuable tool called 'Real AML'. This service sends an e-mail to your potential tenant and asks them to provide a copy of their picture identification, and then present their real-time face for comparison. The 'Real AML' service will then provide electronic verification back to Agent K, who will include this as part of her report.
6. How many people are moving in?
Although a landlord has signed a lease with one person to rent a one bedroom apartment, sometimes that person will invite other friends or family members to move into the unit also, often against the terms of the signed lease. The more people residing in a unit, the higher the utility bills, the higher chances of noise complaints from neighbours, and the higher risk of physical damage to the premises.
Agent K. has many available tools and resources to confirm your potential tenant's family status before a landlord allows them onto the property. Should Agent K. find any evidence that more than one person may be intending to move in, she will ask this of the potential tenant directly, and obtain a response in writing (for future legal reference if the issue does arise).
5. But you said no pets in your ad for the rental unit
The Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) specifies that you cannot evict a tenant for having pets, even if you originally placed this in your advertising for the unit or it is a term of your signed landlord-tenant lease. (The RTA has more legal weight than Contract Law). Therefore, although your tenant may move into your unit without any furkids, you may encounter one that has been smuggled in when you return in three months to change out the furnace filter. How would a landlord know if their potential tenant has pets?
As part of Agent K.'s thorough potential tenant background check, she will look beyond the information shown in basic documentation. If she discovers through a social media post that your potential tenant does have two cats (which will likely be moving into your unit because where else are they going to go?) she will ask about the animals directly from the potential renter. Perhaps a landlord may change their mind about this issue if it is discussed ahead of time, and that would then dissipate any planned future deceptions.
4. Saving the administrative hassle of obtaining a copy of the potential tenant's credit report.
Independent landlords do not necessarily know how to obtain a copy of a potential tenant's credit report, so they will often ask that person to obtain a copy of this themselves. However, many potential tenants also do not know how to obtain a copy of their credit report, so they will just shrug and decide not to rent that specific property because it is not worth the administrative hassle to obtain this.
Agent K., as a licenced Private Investigator, does have authorization and access to pull a person's credit report, with that person's written permission. Therefore, once a potential tenant background check has been requested by a landlord, Agent K. will communicate directly with that potential tenant and obtain their electronic signature permitting her to pull this report.
A credit report not only shows a person's financial position but also contains a history of that person's previous contact information, location and employment. Naturally tenacious, Agent K. will then look at every item on that report to verify that it matches the information provided by your potential tenant.
3. Contacting references
Although a potential tenant may provide three references as requested on a rental application, do landlords actually follow up and contact these people? Usually not. This can be an uncomfortable task and the landlord is unsure of what questions they should be asking. Therefore, as part of her thorough potential tenant background check, Agent K. will contact three references provided by your potential tenant to enquire about them.
Ideally, these references should be the names of previous landlords where that tenant has rented, but sometimes this information is not available. In this case, Agent K. has years of experience interviewing various people and knows how to detect when someone may be untruthful.
With many International contacts, Agent K. is also able to contact references in many places outside of Canada.
2. Can the landlord rely on this person to pay their full rent on time every month?
Although a landlord may be provided with a document from their potential tenant that looks like a letter of employment, there is still a chance that this has been fabricated. Is this person genuinely working there? If they are self-employed, how would a landlord know that they are financially stable?
Agent K. has access to many resources to confirm a potential tenant's financial and employment position. Furthermore, she will contact their employer directly to verify their position, or do some checking on their business status if they are self-employed.
1. A small investment for a landlord's peace of mind.
For only half the amount of one month's rent, a thorough potential tenant background check report from Agent K. can demonstrate to a landlord that they have allowed the right person into their space. This document could also be interpreted as base of trust between the landlord and tenant, because by both parties showing their cards they are showing their hopes for a mutually beneficial relationship.
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With over 15+ years of experience working in the Landlord-Tenant sector, Agent K. Private Investigations Inc. knows how to recognize a good tenant from a potentially bad one. www.agentkpi.ca
