Sooner or later a tenant will ask 'can you send me a rent statement?' Sometimes it's for their reference, sometimes for a deposit dispute, sometimes for a benefits claim. Whatever the reason, what they need is the same: a clear, honest record of what was charged, what was paid, and what's outstanding.
What every rent statement must include
- Tenant name and the property address.
- Tenancy start date (and end date if it's ended).
- Every monthly rent charge with its date and amount.
- Every payment received with its date, amount and method.
- A running balance after each line.
- The current closing balance — credit, zero, or arrears.
That's the whole document. Anything else is decoration.
What to leave out
- Internal notes about the tenant. A statement is not a casefile.
- Maintenance costs, deposit deductions or anything that isn't rent. Those belong on separate documents.
- Speculative or 'projected' future charges. Statements are historical.
- Marketing or branding clutter. The tenant is reading it to settle a question, not to be sold to.
Why a running balance matters
A statement without a running balance is just two unrelated lists. A running balance shows exactly when the tenant got behind, when they caught up, and where the current figure comes from. It turns 'I think I'm up to date' into a number both sides can point to.
Generating this by hand from a spreadsheet is painful and error-prone. Generating it from a per-tenancy ledger is instant — every payment is already allocated, the balance is already running, and the statement is just the ledger printed out.
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A simple rent ledger for small self-managing landlords. No credit card required.