19+ SAMPLE Approval Letters for Rental Applications in PDF | MS Word

What Is an Approval Letter for Rental Application?

An approval letter for a rental application informs an applicant that he or she is qualified to rent out the property he or she have applied for. The letter also makes it easier for you to inform the applicant regarding the term of the lease, the amount of rent to pay, the time interval, security deposit details, and more. Approval letters not only benefit the applicant, but they also benefit you as the tenant because anything and everything related to tenants must be recorded and kept on file.

How to Write an Approval Letter for Rental Application

After successfully conducting a tenant screening, you should be able to determine an applicant that meets all your standards of an ideal tenant. To officially inform a tenant that his or her application has been approved, make sure that you issue him or her with an approval letter. But before you start composing one, you first need to get acquainted with the guidelines that can help you in coming up with an effective rental application approval letter.

Step 1: Consider the Use of a Letter Template

While you can start from scratch, you should consider the use of a ready-made template of an approval letter for rental application. When you opt for the use of a template, you can either use it as it is or have something you can something that serves as your basis or a guide when it comes to the format and layout. If you want to use one as it is, keep in mind that not all templates are one-size-fits-all so make sure to check a template first if it contains most of the contents that you would need in a template before downloading it.

Step 2: Secure the Basic Details

As with any type of letter, the first things you need to secure are the basic details that should be included on the top part of the approval letter which consists of the date, the inside address, and the return address or the heading. The date should be the exact date when you wrote the letter. The inside address should indicate the full name of the approved tenant and the tenant’s current address. The return address should indicate your full name, your title, address, and your contact details such as your phone or landline numbers and email address. If you have a letterhead template ready, you will no longer have to include type in the inside address.

Step 3: Discuss the Details.

The body of your approval letter should at least contain three paragraphs. Introduce the first paragraph with the salutation and start it off with a simple greeting before you state the purpose of the letter in brief sentences and inform the qualified tenant of his or her successful rental application. The second paragraph should further discuss details such as the rental agreement signing date, the move-in date, security deposit details, etc. More of these details are discussed below.

Step 4: Call the Recipient to Action

The last paragraph of the body of the letter should contain a call-to-action where you encourage further communication with the recipient of your letter. This is the part where you indicate a date that serves a deadline as to when the approved tenant should come and sign the rental agreement. Imposing a deadline is helpful on your end as a landlord because a deadline gives a sense of urgency to the tenant, compelling him or her to answer your letter as soon as he or she receives it.

Step 5: Proofread and Check

Once you have filled out the important parts of your approval letter, it is important that you proofread and check your work before printing and sending it to the approved tenant. When checking your work, look out for errors relating to grammar and spelling as well as mistakes relating to the accuracy of the details. If you think that it already looks perfect, consider taking the time away from your final draft so when you come back to it, you will have a fresh look at the paper. And if you have some time to spare, ask someone who has not read your draft to check its contents for you with completely fresh eyes.

Things to Focus on When Writing an Approval Letter for Rental Application

It is already a given that you should write a well-formatted and presentable approval letter for rental application. However, it is better to put the visual presentation of your letter aside and focus more on writing a letter that contains substantial and relevant content. With that, we have listed down the basic things you should consider and focus on when writing an approval letter for rental application. Getting familiar with the following enables you to write the body of your approval letter smoothly.

Importance of an Approval Letter for Rental Application

According to CNBC, more people are renting than at any other point in the past 50 years and that in 2016, 36.6 percent of household heads rented their homes. With such findings, it proves that searching for rental spaces can be tough, and getting rental applications approved can be difficult, if not more. On top of that, Statista also reports that “in 2017, only 48 percent of apartment lease applicants with a credit score lower than 500 were approved, whereas 98 percent of applicants with a credit score higher than 750 were approved.” If you are a landlord seeking tenants, you might already be aware of the challenges that tenants have to go through during the rental application process. Thus, as soon as a tenant passes a thorough applicant screening process, make sure to send out an approval letter for their rental application as soon as possible.

The Dos and Don’ts of an Approval Letter for Rental Application

As with any formal letter, an approval letter is a type of a formal letter that needs to be composed properly to convey its intended message effectively. So, if you are looking for an easy-to-follow guide, read on below as we have laid out the basic dos and don’ts of writing an approval letter for a rental application.

What to Do

1. Do address your letter to the right individual

Before writing the contents of your letter, make sure you already know the full name of the person you are sending the letter to. When you know the recipient, you can easily identify how to address him or her in the body of your letter instead of using the generic “To whom it may concern” or “Dear Sir/Ma’am.” If you really want to have a tenant as soon as possible, make sure you correctly address the recipient of your letter for a generic letter is easily dismissible, reduces accountability, and makes you less credible.

2. Do include any necessary details

What the point of sending a letter if you do not have any information you want to deliver? If you don’t want to waste both your time and your receiver’s time, ensure that you will supply all the necessary details that should make up an approval letter for rental application. State these details in brief and easy-to-read sentences so it will be easier for the reader to comprehend and that there will be no confusion and miscommunication. Apart from that, it also leaves no room for any further inquiries since the content of the letter can already answer most of the common questions asked when a tenant gets his or her rental application approved.

3. Do structure and organize

Sure, you should prioritize the content of your letter to make it substantial and informative, but if you present it poorly, you will still fail in communicating the message you want to convey. This is why the next thing you should prioritize after you got all your details right is to properly organize the letter in its ideal structure and standard format. Like any formal or business letters, you have three ways to style your letter: block, modified block, and semi-block styles. Regardless of the style you choose, make sure that the parts of your letter?the date, inside and return address, salutation, the body, closing, and signature?are properly indented if there is a need to and are properly spaced for ease of reading.

4. Do choose an appropriate tone

Keep a formal and respectful tone in writing your approval letter for a rental application. If you want the tenant to sign the rental agreement immediately, do not state it in an obviously demanding tone because this can probably scare off or intimidate your tenant.

5. Do ensure the accuracy of the details

When you proofread your final draft, do not only check the grammar and spelling but also make sure that the details you have written down are accurate enough not to confuse the recipient. One of the things you should check is the date when you require the tenant to get in touch in order to sign the rental agreement. In addition, avoid adding any details that can be misconstrued by the recipient as offensive. Try reading your final draft out loud to check whether what you have written is accurate and acceptable.

6. Do be clear about the points you are trying to convey.

One of the benefits of letter-writing is that you still have the opportunity to check its contents before you send it to your intended receiver, unlike any verbal correspondence where it’s almost impossible to take back the words you say. This only means that you can still check whether the points you are trying to convey are clear enough to be understood by the reader. You can also further modify your sentence construction using clear and concise words for better.

What Not to Do

1. Do not hesitate to include an expiration date.

If you want to emphasize that your rental units have high demand, do not hesitate to impose an expiry on the acceptance of the tenant’s application. You can also use this as a marketing strategy because even if your rental properties do not actually have high demand, the tenant will feel compelled to rent your property over other units they have also applied for.

2. Don’t ramble on and on.

Keep things short and sweet as possible at all times. There might be other things you would like to discuss in full detail; however, see to it that there really is a need for you to do so as there are some things that you can further discuss in person. Leave out any information that is not absolutely essential to your approval letter. If you know that you have the tendency of rambling on and on, you might want to consider constructing the body of your letter in bullet form so it will be easier for you to break up long sentences into comprehensible phrases.

3. Don’t forget to proofread.

Upon proofreading your draft, check whether the letter is organized properly, the transitions between the different parts of the letter are smooth, and the details you input in the body of the letter are accurate. Another aspect of the letter that you should check is its overall structure. Check whether your draft already contains an appropriate introduction and conclusion. A few minutes devoted to proofreading is not enough because it still usually misses a lot of errors.

4. Don’t forget the date

The part where you indicate the date in your letter may be short and small, but such a part actually plays an important role. It is important for record or archiving purposes. The date of your letter also shows that the time that the information written in the letter has relevance.

5. Don’t be careless when writing a recipient’s name, gender, or professional title

This guideline reinforces the importance of knowing to whom you are sending the letter to. Make no room for accidents such as addressing someone as “Mr.” when you meant “Mrs.” or accidentally addressing someone as “Mrs.” when you meant “Ms.” It is inexcusable, especially if the rental applicant had sent an application where he or she had fully written his or her name. Do not even think about playing safe by simply writing “Dear Sir or Madam” because if you want to be treated by your future tenant with respect, then make sure you also equally treat the person with respect even in the most basic way of addressing someone accordingly.

6. Don’t forget to include a call to action if a response is needed

Do not hesitate to express immediate response, especially if there is a need to. You can do so by closing your letter with an appropriate call to action to the reader. With a call to action, you can easily guide the approved tenant what to do next.

Have you already found the qualified tenant to rent out your property? You are now ready to send them a rental application approval letter! Make sure you check out and download the approval letter templates that we have uploaded in this article for your convenience. We can guarantee you that these letter templates come with quality suggestive content and format that you can further customize according to your preferences.