British Columbia Rental Application Form

What Is a BC Rental Application?

A rental application is the form a landlord uses to screen people who want to rent a home. British Columbia prescribes the standard terms of a tenancy agreement and publishes an official template (form RTB-1); for a tenancy covered by the Residential Tenancy Act the landlord must prepare the agreement in writing, signed and dated by both parties. No application form is prescribed, so landlords use their own. The template on this page is PDFLiner's own generic application for British Columbia, not a government or association form. It was drafted with the limits that BC's Residential Tenancy Act, Personal Information Protection Act and Human Rights Code put on what a landlord may ask, but it is not a certification that every field is necessary or lawful in every rental situation.

What a landlord may and may not ask in BC

For a tenancy covered by the Residential Tenancy Act, a landlord must not charge you anything for accepting or processing an application or for checking your suitability as a tenant. A security deposit or a pet damage deposit may each be at most half of one month's rent, and a security deposit can be required only when the landlord and tenant enter into the tenancy agreement, not at the application stage. The Act does not cover some housing, such as accommodation where you share a bathroom or kitchen with the owner.

The Residential Tenancy Branch says landlords can request verifiable income and employment, references (preferably a previous landlord) and photo identification, may run a credit check with the applicant's approval (the Branch advises getting it in writing), and can't unreasonably ask for credit card numbers or banking information. BC's Information and Privacy Commissioner adds that a landlord should view your identification and return it rather than copy it, should make a social insurance number optional (a date of birth can confirm your identity for a credit check instead), cannot require your banking information before the tenancy is established, may contact references only with your consent, and should run a credit check only near the end of the selection process. Under section 107 of the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act a credit report may be obtained only with your consent, given in a way the landlord can prove, for example a clearly displayed consent statement in the application that you sign. If information in a reporting-agency report contributes to denying a benefit or increasing its cost, section 110 of the same Act requires the landlord to give written notice within 30 days of the decision, in person or by mail to the last known address, to the affected individual and, if the report concerns another individual, to that person too; the notice must state the individual's right to request the reporting agency's name and address in writing within 60 days after receiving the notice, and the landlord must provide that information on a timely request.

Under section 10 of the Human Rights Code, a landlord must not deny a tenancy or discriminate in its terms because of Indigenous identity, race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age or lawful source of income (for example welfare, disability benefits or student loans), subject to the exceptions in the Code, such as space where you would share sleeping, bathroom or cooking facilities with the person offering it. Some screening information, including a date of birth or source of income, can reveal a protected characteristic; a landlord should collect it only for a lawful, necessary screening purpose and must not use it to discriminate contrary to the Human Rights Code.

What the template covers

The template has three pages and nine sections: the rental unit applied for; the applicant, with current and previous address and landlord contacts; a co-applicant; other occupants (names only); employment and income, with a reminder that the landlord may ask only for information reasonably needed for screening; two references (listing them is your consent to be contacted); pets, with a note on disability-related animal accommodation; consent, privacy and declaration, with a separate optional credit-check consent for the applicant and for the co-applicant and optional SIN fields; and an office-use block for the landlord with the section 110 notice duty. It does not ask for banking details, a driver's licence number, a copy of your ID, vehicle details, smoking habits, an emergency contact or occupants' relationship to you.

How to Fill Out the BC Rental Application

1. Open the template in the PDFLiner editor and enter the address of the rental unit, your requested start date, the monthly rent and the number of people who will live there (section 1).
2. Fill in your name and contact details in section 2. The date of birth is optional and is used only to confirm your identity for a credit check; the ID line asks only for the type of photo ID you showed, because the landlord views it and returns it.
3. Give your current address, how long you have lived there, the rent, your landlord's or manager's name and phone, and your reason for moving; then your previous address with the same contacts.
4. If another adult will sign the tenancy agreement, complete section 3 for them; list other occupants in section 4.
5. In section 5, provide only the income information reasonably needed for the screening purpose the landlord has disclosed: the landlord must not make unnecessary personal information a condition of considering the application. Ask which evidence of ability to pay is needed; employment is not the only lawful source of income, and the other-income line is optional.
6. List two references in section 6 (a previous landlord and an employer work best) and your pets in section 7. Pet restrictions and deposits are subject to the Guide Dog and Service Dog Act and the Human Rights Code; you may discuss a disability-related animal accommodation with the landlord separately, and you should not give a diagnosis or medical history on the application.
7. Read section 8. Each applicant makes their own optional credit-check choice: tick only your own box, and sign its own line, if you agree to a report about you; signing the general declaration does not authorize a check when your box is blank. The SIN fields remain optional and should be used only for an agreed, necessary credit check; leave the date of birth and SIN blank until such a check is arranged. By signing you confirm the information is true and acknowledge that the application is not a tenancy agreement: the tenancy itself is created by the tenancy agreement, which the landlord must prepare in writing.
8. Sign and date with the "Sign Field" tool (the co-applicant signs on the second line), then download the PDF or send it to the landlord. Section 9 is for the landlord.

Tips for a successful rental application

• Double-check the application for completeness and accuracy.
• Include a short cover letter introducing yourself.
• Tell your references you have listed them, so they expect the landlord's call.
• If a landlord asks for something the template leaves out, such as banking details or a copy of your ID, you can ask why it is needed; BC privacy law lets a landlord collect only what a reasonable person would consider appropriate for assessing the application, and a landlord must not require you to consent to collection beyond what is necessary as a condition of considering you.