Free letter of demand for rent arrears

Does a rent demand go to a court or a tribunal?

A tribunal, in every state. Residential tenancy disputes do not start in a court — they go to NCAT in New South Wales, VCAT in Victoria, QCAT in Queensland, and ACAT in the ACT. The letter this tool builds names the tribunal rather than "a court", because a demand that threatens the wrong forum tells the reader you have not done this before.

The sequence also matters more here than in an ordinary debt. Most state tenancy Acts require a formal notice to remedy — a specified number of days for the tenant to catch up — before you can apply to the tribunal for termination or an order for the arrears. A letter of demand is not that notice. It sits before it, as the informal step that often makes the formal one unnecessary.

Bond is not a substitute for arrears either. You cannot simply keep it; you claim against it through the relevant state bond authority, and that claim can be disputed. Sending a clear written demand first gives you the paper trail that claim depends on.

Do you need a lawyer to send one?

Anyone can write to someone who owes them money, anywhere in Australia. Chasing a debt owed to you is acting on your own behalf, and that needs no licence.

Who signs it still matters. A demand from the person who has already asked three times reads like the fourth ask. That is the reason a paid option exists, not a legal requirement.

When is this the wrong move?

• You want to end the tenancy. That needs the statutory termination notice for your state, not a demand letter. different form, different clock.
• The tenant is disputing repairs or habitability. A demand will not resolve it. that is a tribunal matter on both sides.
• This is a commercial lease. Retail and commercial tenancies run under separate state legislation with their own notice regimes, and the amounts usually justify advice.
• The debt is outside the limitation period. Most Australian contract debts stop being enforceable after six years. Check the limitation period first.
• They are already in liquidation, administration or bankruptcy. A demand does nothing once an insolvency practitioner is appointed.

And one about us rather than you: we can only send letters on your behalf where the debtor is in NSW, Victoria, Queensland or the ACT. Doing it for someone else in WA, SA, Tasmania or the NT needs a licence we do not hold. The free letter above works in all eight.

Should you send it yourself, or have us send it?

A letter you send yourself works in a small number of cases — usually where the other side simply forgot and one firm reminder is enough.

For most debts it is not enough. If you have already asked and been ignored, another message from you changes nothing. What changes things is the debt leaving your hands: a demand on our letterhead, written and approved by a NSW solicitor, delivered and tracked, followed up on a schedule, and handed to a partner law firm on day 14 if it is still unpaid.

Use the free letter to put it in writing. If that does not work, you need more than a letter.

What other letters can you build here?

Every one of these is the same tool, set up for a different debt. All free, all downloadable as Word or PDF.

• Unpaid invoices — the general business version, and the place to start if none of the others fit
• Unpaid wages — what law is on your side when wages go unpaid
• Strata levies — why does this letter give 30 days when the others give 7
• Unpaid fees — does your engagement letter change what you can demand
• Money you lent — can you recover a loan with nothing in writing