A landlord statement means three different documents depending on who is asking, and sending the wrong one wastes a week. A lender wants one thing, a housing office another, and an owner a third. This page separates them and says what each needs to contain to be accepted without a follow-up.
For a lender or a mortgage application
Confirmation that a tenancy exists, the rent, how long it has run and whether it has been paid on time. Keep it factual and short: property, tenant, start date, rent, payment history in a line, your name and contact. Lenders reject statements that editorialise, and they check the facts against something else, so anything beyond the facts is risk without benefit.
For a housing office or benefit administrator
Usually a specific form rather than a letter, asking for the tenancy details and often for confirmation of what is included in the rent. If a form is supplied, use it: a substituted letter with the same information is routinely rejected because the office processes forms rather than reads letters. Ask which form before writing anything.
For a property owner you manage for
Income and expenditure for the period, per property, with deductions itemised and the net payment and its date. This is a financial statement rather than a confirmation, and the thing owners most often complain about is not the figures but the absence of descriptions against the deductions. A line saying maintenance with a total invites the call you were trying to avoid.
What all three share
They are produced from the record rather than composed. Where the tenancy, the ledger and the work orders are kept against the property, all three statements are a query. Where they are not, each one is an afternoon of assembly and the three will not agree with each other, which is the outcome most likely to cause the request to be refused.
Questions people ask about landlord statement
Does a landlord statement need to be notarised?
Rarely for residential purposes. Where an office requires it they will say so, and that is a question to ask before writing rather than after.
Can I refuse to provide one?
For a tenant's lender or housing application there is usually no obligation and little reason to refuse. For an owner you manage for, the management agreement normally requires it.
What if the payment history is poor?
State it factually. A statement that omits arrears and is later contradicted by a ledger is worse for you than one that was accurate.