As part of a series, the Star is answering common questions about renting in Toronto. Do you have questions that you want us to answer? Email the Star at renterFAQ@thestar.ca.

The question:

You’ve just found what appears to be your dream apartment — spacious, close to work and in your price range.

But then your soon-to-be landlord asks for your social insurance number.

When it comes to applying for a new apartment, what kind of documents are landlords allowed to ask for?

The answer:

It’s normal for landlords to ask for your credit score, past pay stubs, or letters from your employer, says housing lawyer Caryma Sa’d. Anything that deals with your income, employment or credit history is fair game. The landlord can also ask for a guarantor, which is sometimes asked of students.

What they can’t ask for is any information that can be used as a means to discriminate against you, Sa’d says.

In Ontario, it’s illegal to deny someone housing based on their race, place of origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, disability, marital status, if they’re on welfare, have children or are pregnant.

For instance, if you have disabilities, you may want to redact portions of your credit score report if it contains outstanding bills for a private health provider, Sa’d said. A request to see a marriage certificate to prove your marriage could be another red flag.

Landlords also shouldn’t ask for postdated cheques or private information such as your social insurance number or bank account numbers.

“In this kind of market you have a dynamic that really disadvantages tenants, because rental housing is in short supply,” Sa’d said.

“You see landlords getting more bold with their requests, or perhaps they’re trying to ask for information to filter out the competition, but it’s information that infringes upon someone’s privacy.”

Disclosure of your banking information or social insurance number can put you at risk of identity fraud, and landlords have a responsibility to keep all the information collected from you private, Sa’d said.

If you don’t want to let the place go, a friendly reminder of the laws on the books might be enough. The Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) recommends reaching out to the Human Rights Legal Support Centre. If they agree any of the landlord’s actions constituted discrimination or that they asked too much of you, an advocate can call the landlord on your behalf.

Karen Andrews, a lawyer at the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), however said it’s unlikely you’ll succeed in getting them to reach the landlord soon enough. On top of that, the landlord can claim they decided to rent to another tenant for reasons that aren’t discriminatory.

You can point out the laws, and perhaps there will be no problem, but know you might risk losing the unit to another tenant, as unfortunate as that is. It might be better to find a landlord who abides by the laws, Andrews said.

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“The problem is that people are so squeezed for an apartment that they will (comply). Landlords know this and tenants know this,” Andrews said.

“Landlords are asking for preposterous things, and illegal things. They’re getting them because the market is so tight, and that’s the reality.”

Miriam Lafontaine is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @mirilafontaine