CORPIQ recommends more than ever that credit investigations be carried out

CORPIQ has publicly stated that it was out of the question for landlords to follow the opinions of the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (CDPDJ), according to which systematic credit investigations and the consultation of judgments would be discriminatory practices against prospective tenants, and therefore prohibited.

We are amid a changing economic landscape and the financial profile of prospective tenants is becoming more essential than ever to verify before signing a lease, reminds CORPIQ. The most proven way to do this is, without a doubt, a pre-rental investigation, including the credit file and employment confirmations. Access to the credit file on a systematic basis remains the best way to ensure that there is no discrimination between candidates, all of whom have the same financial information to provide so that a decision can be made based on facts.

In its 14-page pseudo "aide-mémoire" type guide published last week, the CDPDJ itself forgets the jurisprudence on rental housing, and instead exposes its own opinions, based on nothing evidential. In addition, it also forgets that its mission is to defend vulnerable people against discrimination, while it itself lapses into discrimination by identifying two distinct classes of citizens: tenants and landlords. Obviously, the rights and protection of the latter would take precedence over those of landlords, the CDPDJ lets on.

CORPIQ does not give any credibility to the CDPDJ's statements regarding housing and invites landlords not to be influenced:

 "The Commission des droits de la personne does not hesitate to say that it produced this “aide-mémoire” after discussions with organizations such as FRAPRU and RCLALQ. They are activists. It never tried to contact CORPIQ to consider other important elements," denounced CORPIQ's Director of Public Affairs, Hans Brouillette. "The Commission has the impudence to lecture and send warnings to landlords about housing when it doesn't know what it is talking about. It is out of the question that we recommend to landlords to follow such biased and disconnected from reality information".

Whether the CDPDJ likes it or not, pre-rental screenings will continue in the same way, because they are indispensable. They help protect landlords against the financial risks represented by a candidate, against incorrigible bad payers, against tenants with undesirable behaviours, against the use of false identities or identity errors, against incomplete or embellished personal information, etc.

However, CORPIQ does not question the illegality of discrimination based on other criteria that have nothing to do with a lease, such as the colour of skin, ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation of the candidate, among others.