How to Write Appropriate Letters to Your Landlord

Writing a letter with an appropriate tone will get the desired response.

Knowing how to write appropriate letters to your landlord is important because the tone of the communications will often play a big part in how your landlord responds to your request. If you adopt a common-sense strategy, your communications will always be well received.

Instructions

1. Start with a polite greeting and end with a polite closing. If in doubt, use "Dear" for the greeting and "Sincerely" for the closing. This will add formality. If you want your landlord to treat your request seriously, you must ensure your letter begins and ends with the correct tone.

2. Begin with a clear, objective statement of the problem, if you are writing a complaint letter. State the "the ceiling is leaking" instead of "the cheap ceilings you installed are leaking." If you state the latter, it will put your landlord in a defensive posture and immediately less receptive to the rest of your letter.

3. State your proposed solution to the problem. Try to keep your tone firm without sounding pushy. State how fixing the problem will be mutually beneficial. For example, you might say, "Please send a plumber to fix the leak tomorrow afternoon. I'm glad we will be able to take care of this before the leaking water causes more damage to your building." This type of language aligns your interests with the landlord's. You get the leak in your apartment fixed and he repairs a small problem now to avoid a larger problem in the future.

References

• Sphinx Legal: How to Write an Effective Complaint Letter
• My Smoke-Free Housing: Tips on Writing a Letter to a Landlord, Owner, or Management