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The proof of residence letter, also called the proof of residency letter or the affidavit of residence, is probably the least stressful letter a landlord can write. In fact, this letter is a piece of cake.
You, as a landlord, don’t need to vouch for your tenant in a proof of residency letter. Although your tenant may be great, this letter just doesn’t need to get into that. You merely confirm that a tenant lives in your rental property.
This begs the question as to why you would be asked to write a proof of residence letter in the first place. And once you understand why, you might wonder how to go about writing this sort of letter.
Here’s what to say in a proof of residency letter, and how to carry out the request on behalf of your tenant if asked.
In This Article:
A proof of residence letter from a landlord is simply a factual statement. It provides a third party proof that your tenant does, indeed, live in your rental unit. It’s a very straightforward communication process from you, so it should not produce any hand wringing or sleepless nights.
If your tenant rents from you, and if your tenant needs you to affirm this fact to a third party, there is no downside to verifying this — assuming it’s true. You should never lie and tell someone that a person rents from and lives in your unit when they don’t. Not only is this unethical, it can land you in legal trouble.
The proof of residence letter is nothing more than what its title suggests. There is no need to embellish such a letter with any information as to what sort of tenant you have, the tenant screening reports you might have used, the results of any screening process, or anything other than providing proof to the requesting party that your tenant lives where they say they do.
The best course of action to take when starting to compose your affidavit for proof of residence letter is to determine what information is being asked of you. It’s good practice to take a personalized approach when writing a proof of residence sample whenever possible, simply answering the questions asked of you.
If that is not possible, such as when the request comes from your tenant who isn’t sure of the exact information the recipient needs, you can take a general approach by providing information the recipient would likely want to have. If you don’t know what information to include, you can feel safe by incorporating the following:
The proof of residency letter differs from a reference letter your tenant might ask you to write. If your tenant is reference worthy —meaning a terrific tenant who always pays rent on time, follows all the lease terms, and treats the rental as their own home — you would probably be delighted to write a credit reference for this tenant. But if your tenant is problematic in any way, you have a sticky situation on your hands.
You (hopefully) would not want to lie simply to get rid of a bad tenant. For example, say your tenant is always late with rent, but you say in the letter that they always pay on time. Lying by omission is no better. Maybe you simply don’t mention the awful rent payment habits in the letter, even though that is a pretty important detail to omit in a reference letter, and you know it.
Besides being unethical, you effectively perjure yourself by signing an untrue statement.
You might not want to write a reference letter, depending on the tenant you have, which then leads to another problem: telling your tenant you wish to decline to write the letter. As you can see, the reference letter could be a conundrum for a landlord, but the proof of residence letter is usually not.
Fortunately, the proof of residence letter is not a reference letter. It is stating your tenant really does live in your rental unit. Period.
