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Letters to your landlord: a repair, back rent, your deposit

A call or a text to a landlord is easy to forget and hard to prove. A short letter with a date on it is not. This page has five letters from a renter to a landlord or property manager: something in my home needs repair, I asked for a repair and it has not been done, I am behind on rent and want to agree on a repayment plan, send me a statement of what I have been charged and what I have paid, and I moved out and am asking for my security deposit. Pick one, fill in the blanks, and print it, save it as a PDF or copy the text. The letter can be in English or in Spanish. There is no account and no price.

Nothing is kept. Nothing you type here is sent anywhere, and nothing is saved, not even on this device: close or reload the page and the boxes are empty. Print or download your letter before you leave. This page runs no analytics or tracking. How we handle privacy.

This tool needs JavaScript. You can write the same letter by hand: your name, address and phone number at the top, the date, the name and address of the landlord, the address of the home you rent, one or two plain sentences that say what you are asking for, a request for an answer in writing, and your name at the bottom. Keep a copy.

Good to know

Before you send it

Read your lease first. USAGov says: before getting outside help, read your lease carefully, and make sure you are following the rental rules you agreed to.
If an eviction has started, get help before you write. The CFPB says: if your landlord is threatening to evict you, or you need help understanding your rights, talk to a lawyer, and you may qualify for free legal aid, based on your income. Our page When you need a lawyer and can’t pay lists ways to find it.
Read it through. The page does not check what you typed. The address of the home, the dates and the amounts matter most.
Keep a copy, and write down the day you sent it and how. Paper trail is a log for that, and Dates to keep holds the day you plan to follow up. This is our own suggestion, not from a source.
For a repair, photos with the date help show what you saw. Keep your own copies. This is our own suggestion, not from a source.
Your lease may say how it wants requests and notices sent: by mail, to an office, through a website. We did not read your lease; you can.
Sign the printed letter by hand above your name if you mail it or hand it in. This is our own suggestion, not from a source.

Where the facts come from

The note under each letter passes on what three federal sources say. We read these pages on October 5, 2026, in English. USAGov, the federal government’s guide: How to file a complaint against a landlord (marked last updated April 15, 2026).
The CFPB, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Your tenant and debt collection rights (marked last modified February 20, 2026), Start a conversation about rent repayment and What to do if you’re facing eviction (both December 12, 2024), and its Help for renters page.
HUD, the Department of Housing and Urban Development: its Multifamily Housing Complaint Line page, and its list of information by state, which is where USAGov sends people for tenant rights. We opened that list and one state’s page; we did not read the tenant rights material each state links to.
The CFPB says there are local experts who can help for free or at a low cost, and that to reach one you can contact HUD’s housing counseling program at 800-569-4287.
No state’s law is stated here, because we read none. The CFPB says your rights as a tenant are usually spelled out in your rental agreement and in state or local laws.
Rules change; the agencies’ own pages are the ones to trust if they differ from this one.

What this page can’t do

It is not legal advice, and no lawyer, tenant advocate or housing counselor has reviewed the letters.
It cannot promise a repair, a plan, a statement or a deposit. A letter asks; what a landlord has to do is set by your lease and by state and local law.
It does not know your deadlines. We read nothing on how many days a landlord has to make a repair or to return a deposit.
It says nothing about holding back rent, paying for a repair yourself and taking it off the rent, ending a lease early, or answering an eviction notice or court papers. Those are legal steps with rules we did not read. For any of them, talk to legal aid first.
It does not send the letter. You mail it, hand it in, or send it the way your lease says.
It does not write in your place. There is no AI inside this tool: the sentences of each letter are a fixed text, written ahead of time with AI, and the page fills your blanks into it.
It does not translate what you type. Only the fixed sentences change with the language of the letter.
It does not cover housing discrimination (the CFPB points to HUD for filing a complaint), or asking for a change you need because of a disability: for that, see Ask for what helps you keep your home. If you have nowhere to sleep, see When you need a place to stay; if the rent cannot be paid, see When the money runs out.

Which words are yours, and which are the page’s

Everything in the boxes is yours and goes on the letter as you typed it.
The subject line, the greeting, the sentences of the letter, the request for an answer in writing and the closing are the page’s, the same for everyone who picks that letter.
The fixed sentences ask. They do not cite a law, and they do not threaten anyone.
Where your name or the landlord’s name is still empty, the letter shows a line in square brackets so the gap is easy to see.
Nothing on the printed letter names this website.

Tools that go with this

Paper trail: a log of every call, letter and visit.
Dates to keep: deadlines and appointments on one list.
Ask for what helps you keep your home: a letter asking a landlord for a change you need because of a disability.
Money plan: one month of money on one page, to see what you can offer.
When the money runs out: where to look for help with rent and bills.
When you need a lawyer and can’t pay: free and low-cost legal help.
House agreement: for the people you share the home with.
All the free tools, and how to save them on your phone.

A letter, not a lawyer. General information, not legal advice. If what you are carrying is too heavy today, call or text 988 (in the U.S.), or open Get help now. In an emergency, call 911.

The tool, the five letters and the wording around them were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The letters were not reviewed by a lawyer, a tenant advocate or a housing counselor, and no person has yet used them with a real landlord. The facts are passed on from usa.gov, consumerfinance.gov and hud.gov pages read on October 5, 2026; U.S. only. Also in Spanish: Cartas a tu arrendador. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].