How to verify employment for a tenant

What the letter should include

An employment verification letter is written by the employer, usually HR, and should let you confirm it independently. Look for:

• The company's name and address, on its letterhead.
• The employee's name, job title and start date.
• Pay rate and how it's paid (yearly salary, hourly with usual hours), or annual pay.
• The name, title and contact details of the person who signed it, and the date.

Check it against the other documents

• The employer and employee names should match the pay stubs and the W-2.
• Annual pay should be in line with the pay on the stubs; a big gap is worth a question.
• Pay shouldn't appear on stubs before the start date in the letter.
• The letter shouldn't be dated in the future.
• A company contact on a free email address (Gmail, Outlook) instead of the company's domain is worth confirming.

Sample employment verification letter

If an applicant asks what to request from their employer, this is the information a landlord needs. The employer writes it on company letterhead:

• “This letter confirms that [employee name] has been employed by [company] as [job title] since [start date].”
• “[Employee] is paid [amount] per [year / hour, usually [hours] hours a week].”
• “For questions, contact [name, title] at [company phone] or [email at the company's domain].”
• Signed and dated by that person.

Confirm with the employer

Don't rely on the phone number in the letter. Find the company's main number on its official website, ask for HR, and confirm that the person works there, their start date and pay, and that the signer works there too. Ask the same questions for every applicant.