Do you know who you are renting to?
As a landlord, I’m of the opinion that there is no such thing as too much information about a prospective tenant. The presence of a criminal record might be the most important piece of information that I might end up wishing I had had the foresight to check. In my opinion, it is far better to put in a little more work at the outset, than to end up with a bad fit for a tenant and have to deal with problems after a tenant has taken possession – which is when the force of the law really starts piling up the restrictions upon you, the landlord. To summarize, the ounce of prevention pays off far better than a pound of cure.
The application process, in my opinion, is where you have the most options and flexibility. It’s arguably the most critical time for the landlord in the life cycle of tenant selection and occupancy. Part of this could be questions relating to the presence of a criminal record for your prospective tenant.
Setting out to try and find information on doing a criminal record check was a little daunting. Searching the internet returned mainly scammy looking sites that purported to do various checks, but that I didn’t trust with my money or someone elses personal information. Even more daunting was the RCMP’s page on criminal record checks. The local RCMP page is a bit friendlier, but details a process that has these restrictions:
- There is a $52 charge
- Tenant themselves must attend in person the main detachment only
- Two pieces of ID including photo, proof of current address in local area
- Provide the mailing address of person or agency requesting the check
- Report is mailed out
Finding the process to be so onerous that no tenant would ever submit to such, I called the local detachment to express my disbelief that there was no easier way to assure the safety of my family and neighbours. I was greeted by an extremely unhelpful woman that reiterated the information on the website in such a bored manner that it was near offensive and certainly disappointing. No further options or suggestions were given. To protect and serve — really?
Disappointed and discouraged but undeterred, I realized I had possessed the next best thing to a criminal record check all along — a court records check, available online, for free. I’d stumbled upon this in a posting in the past and was able to find the link once again.
You can search BC court records directly.
Some things to know:
- This is limited to provincial records only
- It can be difficult to interpret – disputed traffic tickets show up
- do not assume that this is complete or 100% reliable either way
- I advise depending upon traditional methods such as references first and foremost
I’m not a lawyer, or an expert in such matters but I’ve tried to use due diligence before using this tool. I disclaim my ability to do any such searches as I deem necessary including criminal record, credit, background, etcetera on my application form which is signed by the prospective tenant. I use this as only one factor of many, such as reference checking. I’ve also tried to make sure that I can’t get into trouble as a landlord by using this information to screen tenants. You can look at some resources about that here and here but you’ll have to make your own decision!
What I can attest to is the usefulness of this tool — only last week I passed this link on to a new landlord asking for assistance with screening only to find out that among a host of other determining factors his applicant had been charged with fraud. Certainly something of interest if you are about to entrust your property to someone.
To answer the original question – do you need to do a criminal record check, or a court records check as detailed here? The only person that knows that answer is yourself. This is one tool among many methods for assessing the quality of the person you invite into your home or your property, and only you can decide when that process has been adequately explored.