Cities like Vancouver and Victoria arensa国际传媒檛 the only ones suffering from snoopy landlords.
A month ago, my boyfriend and I got a taste of Kelownasa国际传媒檚 low vacancy rate as we searched for an apartment, competing, according to ad views, against hundreds of other potential renters.
The biggest shock wasnsa国际传媒檛 the competition however, it was the feeling of being exposed.
A landlord who owned an apartment in the Lower Mission requested to see our social insurance numbers and annual salary.
Coming from smaller communities where the stakes werensa国际传媒檛 so high, we left more than a few blanks in our application as we refused to fill out optional requests for SIN numbers and sa国际传媒渞equiredsa国际传媒� questions of income.
A few weeks later, our application was deemed sa国际传媒渋ncomplete.sa国际传媒�
According to Andrew Sakamoto, executive director for the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre, landlords shouldnsa国际传媒檛 be asking for SIN numbers, banking information, credit cards, criminal records, or taking copies of driversa国际传媒檚 licenses.
sa国际传媒淎 landlord is allowed to feel confident that a tenant will be able to pay their rent. Theysa国际传媒檙e allowed to ask permission to run a credit report,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淭he fact that landlords are asking for all of this personal information and tenants are providing it, is sort of a symptom of this rental housing crisis thatsa国际传媒檚 plaguing our society.sa国际传媒�
Sakamoto also has a first-hand experience of dealing with the issue. He said he provided his SIN number to to a landlord in order to secure the tenancy.
sa国际传媒淚 know a lot of other tenants in the same boat,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淲ith vacancy rates so low and competition so high, theresa国际传媒檚 a lot of desperation for housing.sa国际传媒�
According to acting deputy commissioner Bradley Weldon at the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, landlords can only request sa国际传媒渘ecessarysa国际传媒� information from a tenant.
sa国际传媒淭here is no reason for a landlord to request more information with a reputable reference,sa国际传媒� said Weldon. More information should only be requested if a reference isnsa国际传媒檛 available and should be only required to determine if the individual is capable of paying the rent, he said.
sa国际传媒淭he amount of information you collect, should escalate as you have reason to escalate it. But what wesa国际传媒檙e seeing instead is one size fits all application forms that treat an individual who has a 10-year positive reference from a landlordsa国际传媒he same as someone who has no background whatsoever and theresa国际传媒檚 reason to believe they might not be able to make their rent payments,sa国际传媒� he said.
The privacy commissioner is currently investigating both private and commercial landlords which was announced after the large number of inquiries it received about tenant privacy rights. The investigation should wrap up in about three to four months, said Weldon.
To access information on tenant and landlord rights visit www.oipc.bc.ca.
carli.berry@kelownacapnews.com
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