Tenant background check
Tenant background check: ID verification, adverse media, and watchlists, explained.
Three checks in a Great Renter report answer questions the credit report cannot: is this person who they say they are, has the press reported anything serious about them, and are they on a sanctions or watchlist. This page walks through how each one runs, what it returns, and what it cannot tell you.
Reviewed September 2026. Sources linked throughout.
The applicant proves who they are with a government ID and a live selfie.
Every other check on this page matches a name. This one ties that name to a real document and a real face, which is why it is in every package.
- 1
The applicant gets a secure link and consents
Your applicant receives a secure, encrypted link. Before uploading anything they accept the consents, including a separate Biometric Consent step for the selfie match.2
- 2
They photograph a government-issued ID
Accepted documents are a driver's licence, an age of majority card, a citizenship, immigration, or permanent resident card, or a passport. The document has to be unexpired and show a photo, an ID number, an expiry date, the applicant's name, and their date of birth.2
- 3
- 4
The result comes back instantly
Verification is instant once the applicant finishes the selfie step.1 You never handle the document yourself: the report records what was checked and whether it passed.
What lands in your report
- Check
- Identity verification
- Included in
- Every package
- Result
- Complete
The report summary shows the identity check's status. The ID photo and selfie stay with Certn and never reach you. From a sample Great Renter report.
A search of public media for negative news about the applicant.
Included from the Complete package. Useful, broad, and worth reading with the limits below in mind.
What it searches
Certn's adverse media check searches public media sources for negative news about the person: news articles, international outlets, blogs, press releases, and other open sources.4 Coverage spans 190+ countries and 70+ languages, and the categories screened include fraud, theft, financial misconduct, regulatory breaches, and negative press.5
That breadth is the point: a story in another country or another language still counts. It is also why the result needs context before it changes a decision.
What lands in your report
- Check
- Adverse media screening
- Included in
- Complete and up
- Result
- No match found
The report summary shows the adverse media result as a single line: no match found, or a match for you to review. From a sample Great Renter report.
What it cannot tell you
Reported, not proven
The check relies on publicly reported media. A hit is a news story or an open-source mention, not a verified legal determination.6
False positives are common
Keyword screening can produce many false positives; Thomson Reuters cites rates of up to 90 percent. Common names are especially hard to tell apart from someone else with the same name.6
A complement, not a replacement
Certn itself frames adverse media as going beyond a criminal record check. Read that as alongside one, not instead of one.7
Screened against international sanctions and watchlists, with a PEP result.
Included from the Complete package. A name match against the lists below, returned in about a minute.
Lists it screens against
Certn's global watchlist and sanctions check screens the applicant against sanctions and watchlist sources including the following, "and more" in Certn's words.8
- OFAC SDNUS Treasury Specially Designated Nationals
- US ITAConsolidated sanctions list
- UK TreasuryHM Treasury sanctions list
- EUEuropean Union sanctions lists
- UNUnited Nations consolidated lists
- PEP statusPolitically exposed person result, included with the sanctions check since April 20259
Certn's UK brand, Credence, also names Interpol most-wanted lists in the same family of check.10 Canada maintains its own Consolidated Canadian Autonomous Sanctions List11; Certn's published coverage does not name it, so we do not claim it here.
What lands in your report
- Check
- Global watchlist
- Included in
- Complete and up
- Result
- No match found
The report summary shows the watchlist result as a single line: no match found, or a match for you to review. From a sample Great Renter report.
Not a criminal record check, and not a reason to forget human rights rules.
Two things landlords often assume a background check includes, and where they actually stand.
A Canadian criminal record check is a separate thing
A formal criminal record check in Canada is requested from the applicant's local police agency, and RCMP policy requires that police agency to obtain the applicant's informed written consent first.12The search runs against the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) system and the RCMP's national repository of criminal records.13
None of that is in this report. Adverse media and watchlist screening look at public news and sanctions lists, which can surface things a record check would not and miss things it would. Treat them as different tools, not one standing in for the other.
A criminal record is generally not a protected ground in housing
- Ontario: The Human Rights Code's accommodation section does not list record of offences among its grounds.14
- British Columbia: The Human Rights Code's tenancy section does not list criminal conviction among its grounds.15
- Alberta: The Alberta Human Rights Act has no criminal record ground.16
- Quebec: Section 18.2 of the Charter protects against discrimination for a record only in employment. Éducaloi's plain-language guide says landlords can generally refuse to rent to someone with a record.17,18
The usual grounds still apply to every decision: race, family status, source of income, disability, and the rest of each province's list. "Generally" is doing real work in the sentence above. This is general information, not legal advice; if a decision is close, ask a lawyer or your provincial human rights commission.
ID verification in every package. Watchlist and adverse media from $29.99.
Paid once per report. No account to create and no subscription, with a money-back guarantee of up to $50 on every report.
Essential
$19.99 / report
- Identity verification
- Equifax credit report
Complete
$29.99 / report
- Identity verification
- Equifax credit report
- Global watchlist and sanctions
- Adverse media
Priority Complete
$38.99 / report
- Everything in Complete
- Priority support from our in-house team
Full package details, who pays, and volume rates are on the pricing page. For the other half of the report, the Equifax credit report and score, see the tenant credit check explainer.
Sources, checked September 2026
- 1.Certn, Identity verification (OneID): government ID matched to a real-time selfie
- 2.Certn help centre, Identity verification guide for applicants: accepted documents and biometric consent
- 3.Certn blog, Clean ID scams: passive liveness detection
- 4.Certn help centre, Adverse Media checks: what the check searches
- 5.Certn, Softcheck: 190+ countries, 70+ languages, and the categories screened
- 6.Thomson Reuters Legal, An overview of adverse media screening: limits and false-positive rates
- 7.Certn blog, Your background on adverse media screening: a complement to criminal record checks
- 8.Certn help centre, Global Watchlist and Sanctions checks: lists covered, turnaround, and consent
- 9.Certn help centre, Faster sanctions and media checks and a standalone PEP check (April 2025)
- 10.Credence (Certn UK), International fraud check: Interpol most-wanted and PEP lists
- 11.Global Affairs Canada, Consolidated Canadian Autonomous Sanctions List
- 12.RCMP, Dissemination of criminal record information policy: written consent, requested through the local police
- 13.RCMP, How your personal information is used in a criminal record check: CPIC and the national repository
- 14.Ontario Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, s. 2 (accommodation)
- 15.British Columbia Human Rights Code, RSBC 1996, c. 210, s. 10 (tenancy premises)
- 16.Alberta Human Rights Commission, Frequently asked questions: protected grounds
- 17.Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (Quebec), Previous convictions: s. 18.2 of the Charter
- 18.Éducaloi, Housing: no discrimination allowed
Got questions?
Background checks, answered
Is this a criminal record check?
No. A formal Canadian criminal record check is requested from the applicant's local police agency, needs their informed written consent under RCMP policy, and searches the CPIC system and the RCMP's national repository. Adverse media and watchlist screening look at public news coverage and sanctions lists instead. They can surface things a record check would not, and miss things it would, so neither replaces the other.
What IDs can the applicant use?
A driver's licence, an age of majority card, a citizenship, immigration, or permanent resident card, or a passport. The document must be unexpired and show a photo, an ID number, an expiry date, the applicant's name, and their date of birth. The applicant photographs it and takes a real-time selfie through the secure link. Nothing is emailed to you and you never handle the document.
What if the applicant's name is common?
Adverse media and watchlist screening match on names, so a common name can return hits that belong to someone else. Thomson Reuters cites false-positive rates of up to 90 percent for keyword-based adverse media screening, and Certn's watchlist results are occasionally held for manual review before release. Treat a yes as a prompt to ask the applicant and look closer, not as a finding, and remember the underlying material is media coverage, not a court record.
Does the applicant have to consent?
Yes, every time. The applicant receives a secure link, accepts the consents and disclosures, and completes a separate biometric consent step before the identity check runs. Certn's watchlist and sanctions check also runs on the applicant's consent. If they never complete the link, nothing runs and no report is produced.
How long does it take?
Identity verification is instant once the applicant finishes the selfie step. Watchlist and sanctions results usually arrive within about 60 seconds of the applicant submitting, with the occasional case held for manual review. The full report is emailed to you when every check in the package is complete.
Can I refuse a tenant because of a criminal record?
Generally, yes, in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec: Ontario's Code does not list record of offences in its accommodation section, BC's tenancy section does not list criminal conviction, Alberta's Act has no criminal record ground, and Quebec's section 18.2 protection applies to employment. Two cautions. This report does not contain a criminal record check, so you would be acting on something else. And every other protected ground still applies, so a refusal that in practice targets race, family status, source of income, or disability is still discrimination. This is general information, not legal advice.