Landlords in Canada do not have the same access to criminal records that US landlords do.

Yes @felipe neither of us think this company is doing anything criminal.  

I have yet to do the full background checks on criminal/eviction/credit but proposed tenant seems confident that there are no issues.  

No smoking--(they must sign that they do not smoke, many will say they don't but actually do)No petsClean criminal background checkExcellent rental reference.

Many times, landlords have problems with college students and unknown criminal types.

If the association also charges an Application Fee to the tenant to cover the credit and criminal background check, and administrative expenses does $350 sound excessive for maintenance people putting out traffic cones and any wear and tear the moving truck may cause?

mhmm i know i love my RED STATES lol i also remember taking a criminal justice course and spending half the semester on intent and long story short is if you have a book bag full of drugs and you can prove you did not know they were there you CAN BEAT THE CASE... never actually happened as far as i know but basically if you grabbed your roommates bag by accident and they came in took the charge and explained it but i don't know anyone who has a room mate that is that nice lol MY POINT IS WHO CARES... not legal advice but if you accepted 2 applications at an open house at the same time and they both say they think they want to move in but are not sure... than you get positive reports for both perspective tenants and they both email you at the same time saying yea they are 100% sure they want it and will have a deposit the next day....

Criminal RecordThose are real issues that are truly important.

In fact, cheap enough, be sure they're checking criminal, evictions, employment, landlords, credit, etc.

Criminal and civil charges will not help that.