If you manage the tenancy of your properties yourself, you will quickly receive a request from your tenants for a tenancy confirmation. However, be careful: I recommend that you carefully inform yourself about the implications of this document and your actual responsibilities in this area.
What is a rental confirmation?
if you have they invested in rental properties where you are responsible for managing the rental yourself, it is important to know the rules and obligations attached to the rental confirmation.
Because as the name suggests, by presenting this document, the landlord gives the tenant a receipt for the rent received. This relieves the latter of his financial obligation stipulated in the lease agreement in exchange for the use of the property. This applies to any type of rental (bare, furnished).
In other words, as the owner, you must wait for the tenant(s) to pay you the rent and the amount of the fees before you give them the tenancy confirmation. And not before!
Lease confirmation: landlord’s obligations
As the owner of the rented accommodation, you will have one administrative obligation towards your tenant: provide them with a proper proof of rent as soon as the tenant requests it. And only if your tenant asks for it.
Therefore, under no circumstances are you required to provide a monthly receipt as set forth in Article 21 of Law No. 89-462 of July 6, 1989. In particular, this article stipulates that landlords must send rent receipts without requiring additional costs from their tenants.
It is up to the landlord to choose the most economical way possible. And then you have a flat-rate tax deduction of 20 euros for the administrative costs of administration.
But be careful, this delivery obligation remains strong.
Because your tenant will need this type of document if they wish to carry out administrative procedures such as renewing their identity document. The loan receipt can be used as proof of address.
The same applies to the application for a real estate loan, the lending bank always asks the tenant for confirmation. This will let him know if it is made to a good payer.
Because as we saw earlier, the rental confirmation only covers the period when the tenant has up-to-date information on the payment of rent and fees!
What elements should appear on the receipt?
The rental receipt serves as proof of payment by the tenant. Therefore, it is necessary to respect the formalism.
Here is a list of mandatory information that must be included on the rental confirmation:
- identity and address of the owner,
- the identity of the tenant(s) signing the lease with the address of the occupied property,
- the date of issue of the rent certificate. It must correspond to the date of sending the document,
- the period specified by the tenant. Generally, we only take the last month as an ordinary tenancy or quarter in the context of a commercial rental,
- data on the amount of rent and fees paid by the tenant. If the rent is subject to VAT, you will need to enter the rate and amount of VAT paid on a separate line.
As for submissions, there are no formal requirements.
The landlord can send the rent receipt in any way. There is no need to send registered mail with a receipt for tracking.
I recommend that you do this electronically in PDF format. This way you will have a history of your correspondence with the tenant in case of a dispute.
What should you do if a tenant asks you for proof of rent before paying you?
It happens that an unscrupulous tenant will ask for a document before paying. In this case, I recommend that you issue a proper notice that you can issue every month. This step is necessary before a formal notice is given in case of outstanding debts.
The notice will list the amounts owed with the relevant periods. In case of late payment, you will be able to view them as well as your tenant’s debit balance. It’s up to him to pay to get that month’s rental confirmation!
And that in the case of partial rent payment
If your tenant is not paying rent and fees in full, you are not required to give them a tenancy confirmation. I also advise you not to do this in this scenario.
Send him email reminders to remind him of his obligations under the lease. Because the tenant must pay the rent and fees specified in the apartment rental contract every month.
Model rental confirmation
You want to do things according to the rules. You can find sites on the Internet that offer you the option to fill out online forms adjust the receipts of your tenants.
I recommend that you create an Excel spreadsheet to track rent management, especially when it comes to payments made by tenants. You can also print them out for standard form of tenancy confirmation.
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