Screening Tenants in Canada

[Dan Jensen]

Hi BP

I am new so please forgive me if this has been answered.

I just purchased my first home (home with legal basement suite) and take possession on Dec 15th.  Part of the deal is that the basement is currently leased out, with that lease due to expire at the end of December.  I have asked the tenant to reapply for a renewal since I don't have any of his background information.  On the surface he keeps a very clean house for having a dog and having been in the suite for a year, so it would be nice the have the house hack set up from day 1.  I am using an application form that I received from a local continuing education course that I took.

The only unanswered questions I have are: How do I check a person's credit? Do I simply get a personal report/score from Equifax for the ~$30 or is there another method? Also, do you typically have the tenant pay for it and provide it, or do you do the application yourself?

I would appreciate any feedback as I would like to have this situation sorted in the next day or so.  Thanks very much.