One of our duties as the landlord of a dwelling is to guarantee that the other tenants in the building have peaceful enjoyment of the dwelling they have rented. This duty is a difficult one for landlord. More specifically, the landlord must guarantee that a person over whom ha has no control will behave in a civilized way, and will comply with the rules of conduct that come with the fact of living in a multi-unit building.
This obligation is one of the reasons why you must carry out thorough checks on a potential tenant. The APQ investigation service has been adapted to help owners of multi-unit buildings evolve with ever-changing requirements. Our investigation service now includes civil and criminal court record background checks, searches for past Rental Board rulings, how they conducted themselves and their payment history in previous dwellings by checking with their previous landlord, as well as their banking and credit history. We also perform an identity check of the previous landlord in order to ensure that the potential tenant doesn't try to deceive you and us by have one of his friends pose as the previous landlord.
As a landlord, you have your own standard and criteria which enable you to implement your building rules when a new tenant moves into the building, as well as knowing your tolerance level for financial risk.
Naturally, the standards you adopt must respect the current laws, and in particular, avoid any form of discrimination regarding the tenant.
There is no reason for you to feel uncomfortable when you reject the potential tenant's application, and you should explain to them that your decision to reject his application has no reflection on them as a person just because you don't want to sign a lease with them.
The level of detail you require is up to you, but prudence is the best policy. We never discuss the details of a file with your potential tenant, and the agreements we must respect are clear to that effect. You can however refer the tenant to us and we'll do our best to direct him to towards the proper sources who can answer their questions.