A rent certificate is a form that your landlord fills out as proof of the rent you paid during the year.
You can download a rent certificate, fill it out, and ask your landlord to sign it. If your landlord refuses to sign the rent certificate, you should still enter all of the information. Note: DO NOT sign the rent certificate yourself. Rent certificates signed by you or someone other than the landlord or his/her authorized representative will not be accepted.
The IRS provides a printable and fillable PDF for this year's rent certificate.
Here is the Rent Certificate link.
Some things to note about filling out the Rent Certificate:
The rent certificate is only valid if it includes both the taxpayer's social security number and the landlord's signature.
Taxpayers are required to fill out question 5b
You are only required to fill out the second page of the certificate if there are more than one person living in the home AND the shared living expenses are not 50/50.