What has to be on a rent receipt?

What belongs on one

There is no single national template, but a receipt that omits any of the following is one somebody will come back about.

• The rental address, including the unit or room
• The tenant's name
• The amount received, and what it is for — rent, a deposit, or an arrears payment
• The period the payment covers
• The date the payment was received
• How it was paid
• The landlord's name, and a signature or equivalent

When you must provide one

In several provinces a landlord must give a receipt free of charge when a tenant asks, and in some the obligation continues for a period after the tenancy ends. Ontario, for example, requires it on request, including from a former tenant.

Check the rules where your property is. The Landlord and Tenant Board and the equivalent bodies in other provinces publish this plainly, and it is the sort of detail worth reading once rather than guessing at.

Why tenants ask

Rent receipts are used for provincial tax credits and benefit claims, for proving residency, and for rental references. A tenant asking for a year of receipts in March is usually filing taxes, not preparing a dispute.

They also settle arguments. A dated receipt for a period is a far better answer to 'you never paid February' than a memory of a bank transfer.

Issue them without being asked

The administrative cost of generating a receipt when you record a payment is close to zero. The cost of reconstructing eleven months of them under time pressure is not.

Latchly writes a numbered receipt for every payment as it is recorded, and the tenant can download any of them from their own portal without asking you.