Ontario has no government issued rental application. Most landlords and property managers use OREA Form 410, the residential rental application in the Ontario Real Estate Association's Standard Forms library. What it may ask is set by Ontario Regulation 290/98 under the Human Rights Code, not by the form.
This page is general information, not legal advice.
What is the standard rental application in Ontario?
Ontario prescribes a standard lease, not a standard application. Section 12.1 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 requires a prescribed class of tenancy agreement to use the prescribed form, and the province's guide states the standard lease is required for most residential tenancy agreements signed on or after April 30, 2018. Nothing equivalent exists one step earlier.
So the de facto standard is an industry form. OREA numbers its Standard Forms in series, and residential leasing is Series 400: Form 400 is the agreement to lease, Form 410 the rental application. They sit behind a member login on orea.com, which is why searching for a free Form 410 PDF surfaces scraped copies, not the source. It is OREA's copyrighted document, so this page describes it rather than reproducing it.
Who can use OREA Form 410?
OREA members: Ontario brokerages and registered salespeople, who get them through their membership. A self-managing landlord who is not a member writes their own application, or uses whatever their property manager supplies. No statute tells you which form to use. The law constrains the questions on it.
What can an Ontario rental application ask for?
O. Reg. 290/98, made under the Human Rights Code rather than the RTA, lists the permissible inquiries. Section 1(1) covers credit references, rental history and authorization for a credit check. Section 1(3) allows income information only if you also request those items, and section 1(4) requires income to be weighed together with them, unless income information is all you obtain, which section 1(5) lets you consider on its own. The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) states the limit plainly in its Policy on Human Rights and Rental Housing: "Regulation 290/98 under the Code permits no other inquiries."
Which is why the form matters more than the conversation. A question you ask out loud is one applicant. A field on your form asks all of them.
| What the application asks | Where it stands |
|---|---|
| Credit references, rental history, credit-check consent | Permitted, s. 1(1) |
| Income information | Only alongside the s. 1(1) items (s. 1(3)), weighed with them (s. 1(4)) |
| A guarantor for the rent | Permitted, O. Reg. 290/98 s. 2(1); the OHRC says only if required of everyone |
| A 30% rent-to-income cut-off | Illegal outside rent-geared-to-income units (OHRC) |
| Any other question | "Permits no other inquiries" (OHRC) |
What can a rental application not ask?
Section 4 of the regulation, last amended by O. Reg. 95/18, says nothing in it authorizes refusing accommodation because of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability or the receipt of public assistance. Receipt of public assistance, a ground under section 2(1) of the Human Rights Code, is the one an automated form trips most: an income field that takes employment income only excludes ODSP, Ontario Works and housing benefits. The OHRC also says a thin credit or rental history should not count against an applicant.
Fees and deposits run on separate rules, covered in what Ontario landlords can legally ask and charge.
How do applications work when showings are automated?
The application arrives later and arrives cleaner. An AI leasing agent answers the 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 is released. By the time someone applies, you know they stood in the unit.
Keep the two decisions apart. Automated qualification is a scheduling gate: it decides who gets a showing slot. Selecting a tenant is the tenancy decision, and in Ontario that belongs to a person weighing credit, references and income together as section 1(4) requires. Canadian shops keeping their accounting in Yardi can leave it there while LetHub runs leasing.
Book a demo to see it on your own listings.
FAQ
Is OREA Form 410 mandatory in Ontario?
No. Ontario requires the standard lease for most tenancy agreements signed on or after April 30, 2018, but no statute prescribes an application form. Form 410 is an association form for OREA members. What binds you either way is the list of permitted inquiries in O. Reg. 290/98.
Where do I get the Ontario rental application form?
OREA distributes Form 410 to members through orea.com, behind a member login, and it is OREA's copyrighted document, so no legitimate free public download exists. If you are not a member, build your own around the section 1(1) items or ask your brokerage.
Can I ask an applicant for a Social Insurance Number?
A SIN is not among the items O. Reg. 290/98 lists, and the OHRC says the regulation permits no other inquiries. Credit references and a credit check are on the list. If a screening provider asks for one, check what it requires.
Does an automated pre-qualification step break Ontario's rules?
Not on its own. Routing an inquiry to a showing slot is not selecting a tenant. The rules bite when the automation makes the tenancy decision, for instance rejecting someone on a rent-to-income ratio, which the OHRC calls illegal outside rent-geared-to-income units.
