Of course the usual explanation (excuse) offered for this is something to the effect of how much people like to entertain and need an open floor plan to do so.

Thanks for this real world explanation.

Most guidelines state minimum 1 year but in practice when these applications come in I've seen that 6-12 months with a reasonable explanation can be done easily.Now some times in rare instances with exception I've seen buyers get approved even under 6 months.

Ask him whether there's another explanation for it - and "company policy" doesn't cut it.If there's no reasonable cause for that fee, tell him you're not paying it. 

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation and the warm welcome!

While originally this tended to just be simple geographic area like a city, zipcode or subdivision, you can now get quite a bit more sophisticated.

Thank you the explanation that helped.

Thank you for that explanation.

That is a very helpful explanation. 

Security deposit amountYou can find plenty of examples by searching for "tenant estoppel certificate doc" or exchanging "doc" with "pdf" for more options.Here is an example and explanation: Sample EstoppelSome have a lot of legal jargon but this document does not need to be so detailed.