Screening Tenants Legally in New Brunswick

You are free to choose your tenant, but you must choose on lawful grounds and handle applicant information properly. According to gnb.ca, a landlord may ask an applicant to complete an application and may ask for standard information: name, contact information, employment information and references. A landlord may also request a credit check.

The New Brunswick Human Rights Commission agrees that asking for income information, rental history, credit checks or other guarantees is not discrimination in itself. The limit is that these inquiries must not violate an applicant's dignity and privacy, and must not be used to prefer some applicants and exclude protected groups.

A few practical points from the federal Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC):

• Credit check: you need the applicant's consent to share their information with a credit bureau. Name, address and date of birth are usually enough.
• Social Insurance Number: you do not need it, and an applicant cannot be refused for declining to give it.
• ID and pay stubs: if you look at a driver's licence or pay stubs to confirm identity or income, you likely do not need to keep a copy.
• References and background checks: get consent first, and do not use social media as a background check tool.

gnb.ca also says a landlord may ask for proof of tenant insurance as a condition of renting, although no law requires tenants to carry it. These rules are current as of October 2026. See also our general guide to screening tenants.

1. Write neutral criteria first. Decide what you will check, such as income evidence, rental references and credit, before you see applicants, and apply the same standard to everyone.
2. Advertise without exclusions. Do not write wording such as adults only or no children, and do not name a preferred type of tenant.
3. Use one application form. Ask for name, contact details, employment and references. Leave out questions about family plans, religion, origin and similar topics.
4. Get written consent. Tell the applicant what you will check, why, and who you will contact, and get consent before any reference call or credit check.
5. Verify, do not hoard. View ID and pay stubs, note what you need, and avoid keeping copies you do not need.
6. Decide and keep brief notes. Record the non-protected reason for your decision, such as an unfavourable reference or failed income evidence.
7. Move to a lease. The winning applicant signs the government Standard Form of Lease. See our guide to becoming a landlord in New Brunswick.

Our short answers on what landlords can legally ask for and credit checks cover the common questions.

The Human Rights Act bars denying a person the right to occupy a dwelling unit, or treating them differently in any term or condition of occupancy, on a prohibited ground. It also bars discriminatory notices and signs, which covers rental ads. The sixteen prohibited grounds are:

• race, colour, national origin, ancestry and place of origin;
• creed or religion;
• age;
• physical disability and mental disability;
• marital status and family status;
• sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression;
• social condition, which covers source of income, occupation and level of education;
• political belief or activity.

Criminal record is not on this list. That does not mean any question is safe, but it is not a protected ground under the Act.

The exceptions are narrow. A limit based on a bona fide requirement the Commission has accepted, a Commission-approved special program (for example housing reserved for seniors or persons with disabilities), and some age rules about people under the age of majority where an Act or regulation authorizes them. The Commission's guidance also says someone who rents out a room in a unit with a shared bathroom or kitchen may prefer certain types of occupants because of the intimate nature of the shared space, but must still follow human rights law, for example by not refusing someone because of race.

Income and source of income. Asking for income information is allowed. But the Commission's guideline treats requirements such as a permanent job, a minimum income, a minimum time with an employer, or a fixed rent-to-income ratio as discriminatory, because they disadvantage young people, low-income households and other protected groups. It also describes a finding that refusing an applicant because they received social assistance was discrimination based on source of income and disability. Judge the applicant's ability to pay the rent without excluding a whole category of income.

Guarantors. A guarantor can be justified in certain cases. It is discriminatory if you require one only to exclude people who identify with a protected ground.

Families and children. You may not refuse families with children or advertise a preference for tenants without children. The Commission advises that questions about the ages of occupants wait until after the unit is rented, and it says minimum bedroom or person-per-bedroom rules have a discriminatory effect.

Pets and service animals. A no-pets policy is not discriminatory in itself, and the Standard Form of Lease has a box for pet restrictions. But you must make an exception for a service animal. You may ask for clarification, such as a doctor's note, when the need is not obvious, but the tenant does not have to disclose a diagnosis. Emotional support or therapeutic animals may also be protected if the tenant can show they rely on the animal because of a disability. The ordinary benefits of pet ownership are not enough.

Disability. You have a duty to accommodate reasonable requests up to the point of undue hardship.

No New Brunswick rule that names an application fee turned up in the Act, the regulation, the Standard Form of Lease or the gnb.ca landlord and renter pages. The closest rule is in the Residential Tenancies Act: no one may require anyone, as a condition of entering a lease, to pay an amount other than rent, a security deposit or a reasonable amount for a service provided in relation to the tenancy, and any agreement imposing such a requirement is void. Breaking that rule is a category E offence. An application fee looks like it may fall under this rule, but no government page says so. Before you charge one, ask the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office (TLRO).

The limits you can state with confidence are these:

• the security deposit is capped at one month's rent (one week for weekly tenancies);
• you cannot require the last month's rent in advance or a single payment larger than the regular payments;
• a late payment fee is limited to bank NSF charges for a returned cheque.

Our short answer on application fees explains the general picture. For deposit handling after you choose a tenant, see the landlord deposit guide for New Brunswick.

New Brunswick has no provincial private-sector privacy law that applies to landlords. The OPC says landlords must follow the federal PIPEDA, and that only a few provinces have their own laws that apply to landlords, with New Brunswick not among them. That means PIPEDA applies to you in New Brunswick, and privacy complaints about landlords go to the OPC.

In practice:

• say why you are collecting each item, and collect only what you need for that purpose;
• get consent before sharing information with a credit bureau or a reference;
• do not photocopy a licence or pay stub you only need to look at;
• photographing a tenant's unit is a collection of personal information that needs a stated purpose and the tenant's consent;
• if you use cameras, post signs explaining how footage is used, and do not point them at the inside of apartments.

The research behind this guide did not turn up a rule on how long to keep applicant records, so ask the OPC if you are unsure.

What goes wrong. Most problems come from an inconsistent standard, an exclusion written into an ad, a document stored longer than it was needed, or a refusal the applicant sees as tied to a protected ground. Keep your criteria written, apply them evenly, and keep the file short.

This guide explains the rules in general terms; for a specific case, ask the tribunal or a licensed legal professional.