British Columbia has no province-wide rental application form. The Residential Tenancy Branch publishes a tenancy agreement (form RTB-1) and dozens of dispute forms, and nothing for the application stage, so you write your own. Section 10 of the Human Rights Code and section 15 of the Residential Tenancy Act set the limits.
This page is general information, not legal advice.
Is there an official BC rental application form?
No. The RTB's tenancy forms page, last updated July 24, 2026, runs from RTB-1 to RTB-61. Every form on it with "application" in the name is a dispute resolution or rent increase application, never a tenant's application to rent.
The Act does have a forms power: section 10 of the Residential Tenancy Act lets the director approve forms, and section 13 requires a written tenancy agreement carrying the standard terms. The Province's own page says landlords can write that agreement themselves if it carries those terms.
What should a BC rental application include?
The Province publishes a short list. Its page on listing and showing a rental unit, updated March 4, 2026, says landlords can request verifiable income and employment, references, and photo identification to confirm the name matches the application (no copy kept), plus a credit check with written approval. It also says landlords cannot unreasonably ask for banking information. That is Branch guidance, not a statutory list.
| On the application | Where that comes from |
|---|---|
| Income and employment, verifiable | RTB guidance, March 2026 |
| References, ideally a past landlord | RTB guidance |
| Photo ID sighted, no copy kept | RTB guidance |
| Credit check, written approval | RTB guidance |
| Credit card or banking details | Cannot unreasonably ask (RTB) |
| A protected characteristic | Barred, Human Rights Code s. 10 |
| An application fee | Barred, Residential Tenancy Act s. 15 |
What can a BC rental application not ask?
Section 10 of the Human Rights Code bars denying a person space represented as available to a tenant, or discriminating on a term of the tenancy, because of Indigenous identity, race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age or lawful source of income. Age in the Code means 19 or over. The Tribunal notes that lawful source of income applies only in tenancy, and it is the ground a form trips quietly: an income field counting employment income and nothing else reads disability assistance or a housing benefit as no income.
The Tribunal's 2024/2025 annual report counts 3,036 new complaints in the year to March 31, 2025, of which 275, or 9.1%, involved tenancy, the third busiest area after employment and services. The Tribunal changed that calculation this year, so the share does not compare to earlier reports. It ended the year with 6,253 active complaints and reports continuing delays.
Can you charge a rental application fee in BC?
No. Section 15 of the Residential Tenancy Act says a landlord must not charge a person anything for accepting an application for a tenancy, processing the application, investigating the applicant's suitability as a tenant, or accepting the person as a tenant. Paragraph (c) catches the credit check you paid for. The Residential Tenancy Regulation lists the non-refundable fees a landlord may charge, and an application fee is not among them. Section 20 adds that a security deposit can only be required as the tenancy agreement is entered into.
How do applications work when showings are automated?
The application arrives later, from someone who has already stood in the unit. An AI leasing agent answers a rental inquiry in about 30 seconds by text, chat or phone at any hour, books the showing, and runs a bank-level ID check before the access code goes out. Offline locks use a static code, rotated after the showing, so no lock fleet is needed. The showing's own notice rules sit in the tenancy act, covered in whether self-showings are legal in Ontario and BC.
Keep the two decisions apart. Sorting an inquiry into a showing slot is scheduling; choosing a tenant is the tenancy decision, and section 10 speaks to that one. Hold the automated gate to availability, unit fit and identity; leave selection to a person reading the file. LetHub is based in Victoria and runs leasing in its own system, so a BC shop keeping accounting in Yardi can leave it there.
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FAQ
Is there a standard rental application form in BC?
No. The Residential Tenancy Branch publishes RTB-1, the residential tenancy agreement, plus inspection and dispute forms. Nothing covers the application stage, so landlords and property managers write their own. The limits come from the Human Rights Code and the Residential Tenancy Act, not from a form.
Can a BC landlord charge an application or credit check fee?
No. Section 15 of the Residential Tenancy Act says a landlord must not charge anything for accepting an application, processing it, investigating the applicant's suitability, or accepting the person as a tenant. The Regulation's list of permitted non-refundable fees does not include one.
Does asking about income breach the Human Rights Code?
Asking does not. The Province says landlords can screen tenants on factors such as income and employment history. Section 10 lists lawful source of income among the protected characteristics in tenancy, so the line falls between verifying an amount and refusing a source.
