Where was the rental?
We use this to cite the right statute and deadline.
What you’ll need before you start
Most people finish in about five minutes with their lease open. Worth having:
- The deposit amount. On your lease, or the receipt, or the first month’s bank record.
- The day you moved out. The day you gave the keys back, not the day the lease ended, if they differ.
- Your landlord’s name as it appears on the lease. If it is a company, the company, not the leasing agent.
- Where to mail them. The rental itself works if a leasing office receives mail there.
- Your current address. This is where the check is sent, so it is worth getting exactly right.
- Anything they sent you, if they sent anything: an itemized list, a partial refund, a text. Not required, and it makes the letter push harder.
You do not upload any of it. Nothing here is required to be perfect on the first pass: your answers save as you go, and you read the whole letter before paying anything.
Which address do I use?
The place you moved out of, written the way it is on your lease. Put the apartment or unit number in its own box. The address suggestions leave it out, and a landlord with a whole building needs it to know which home was yours. Leave it blank if you rented a house. This address also tells us which state’s law to use.
Your deposit
Amounts and dates drive the deadline math in your letter.
What counts as my deposit?
The refundable amount you paid at move-in. Your lease or receipt will call it a security deposit. A refundable pet deposit counts too. Don’t include non-refundable fees (application fees, admin fees, non-refundable pet fees).
Not sure of the exact date?
Use the day you handed back the keys or your lease’s last day, whichever came later. The legal deadline in your letter is measured from this date, so get as close as you can. Your lease and your last rent payment are good references.
What if they returned part of it?
Choose “Part of it.” Your letter asks for the rest of your money. Where your state allows it, it also asks for a penalty on the part they kept without a good reason.
What has the landlord said?
These answers change the wording of your letter.
Did you receive a written itemized list of deductions? *
What’s an itemized list?
A written breakdown of exactly what was deducted and why. Most states require the landlord to send one within the deadline. A text saying “we kept it for cleaning” is not an itemized statement. If nothing arrived in writing, answer No. That usually makes your position stronger, not weaker.
Their charges, one at a time (optional)
Copy each charge off their list. Your letter then answers them one at a time and asks them to prove each one. That is much harder to ignore than arguing about the total. You can skip this. Your letter still disputes all of it.
Tap the ones they charged you for. Each one becomes a line you can edit.
What reasons have they given, if any?
Did you already give a forwarding address in writing? *
Why does a forwarding address matter?
In several states the clock on returning your deposit runs from the day you give the landlord your new address in writing. If you haven’t, or aren’t sure, pick “No” and your letter formally provides it, closing that loophole in the same envelope.
Good. That actually helps you. In a moment we'll ask for the address you want your check sent to, and your letter formally gives it to them in writing. In several states that is what starts the clock on their deadline, so the letter does two jobs at once.
Your letter · ready to send
Review your letter. Every word.
This is the letter that mails, word for word. Nothing is charged and nothing is sent until you say so.
Preview · not sent · watermarked
The red PREVIEW · NOT SENT words mean one thing: this letter has not been mailed. Read it now. Check every name, date and number. The copy we print and mail has no red words on it.
Something wrong?
Your facts
Could I write this letter myself?
Yes, and if you would rather do that, do it. Any renter is allowed to write a demand letter and send it, and every state page here links your statute so you can get the law right for nothing. Your deposit matters more than our fee.
To be straight with you about the copy above: read it here as long as you like, but the version you can save or print is stamped PREVIEW · NOT SENT until you pay. The words are the part you could have written yourself. What the fee buys is everything after them, which is the part most people never get to:
- It goes USPS Certified Mail, and the postage is in the price. You would pay for this at the Post Office too. It is the part that matters: proof of what you sent, and proof they got it, on a date a judge can read.
- Someone else stands in the line. We print it, fold it, address it, and take it to the Post Office. Most letters that never get sent were written and then not mailed.
- Your signature comes with a certificate. The last page records when you signed, the device you signed from, and a SHA-256 fingerprint of the exact wording you approved. A signature on a page you printed at home records none of that.
- We watch the clock so you don’t. We email you the tracking number, then the day it is delivered, then again the day your landlord runs out of time. That last day is when things change in your favor.
- The statute is already right. The law we name, the deadline and the penalty all match your state, and we checked them against the state’s own website. Your landlord cannot brush it off as the wrong law.
What if the landlord just ignores it?
Then you have exactly what small claims court wants: a statute-cited demand and certified proof they received it. We email you the next steps the day the window closes. Most landlords don't let it get that far, because the statutory math favors you.
What if I spot a mistake after paying?
Reply to your confirmation email before it prints and we fix it free. If we ever introduce an error, we correct and re-mail at no charge, or refund you in full.
Is this real legal mail?
It is a real demand letter. Any renter is allowed to send one. We print it and send it USPS Certified Mail, so someone has to sign for it and you get the record. We are not a law firm. The letter only says what your state’s law says.
If we can't mail it, you don't pay: full refund before printing, correction and re-mail at no charge after.
Signing is free. You only pay when you're ready to send it.
