Tenant Demand Letters

Are you having issues with your landlord or rented housing?

If so, you may need to send a letter to the landlord/property owner or manager. Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Inc. has created several letters to help people with common issues between renters and property owners/landlords.

The forms are available as fill-in-the-blank forms or through an automated service that will help you complete the forms. You will need to download and print any form you create. 

Instructions:

• List your full name and the address the letter is talking about. (You may have moved, but this is so the landlord knows which home you are talking about.) 
• If there is a space to put an address where you are receiving mail you should stop and think about this for a moment. 
  • If you have moved from the rented home, you may not want to put your current address. 
  • Consider giving the address of a trusted friend or family member who is not likely to move soon. 
  • Use another address where you can get mail, but not necessarily where you are currently living or working. 
• The Certificate of Mailing is tricky: 
  • Decide if you are going to hand deliver or mail this letter. Pick only one method. 
  • Some letters should only be sent by certified mail. The letter should say. 
  • The post office can help you send certified mail. Make sure you get the green card from the post office after the letter is delivered.
  • Put the landlord or property manager’s work address on the lines.
• Sign and date for the exact day you are delivering or mailing the letter.
• If Oklahoma Law is included with the letter, send it too!
• IMPORTANT: Take a picture or make a copy of any letter you send!
  • Keep track of your copy of the letter. Consider emailing a photo to yourself.

Click below to use our guided online form software. This will ask you a seies of questions then complete the correct forms for you. 

Use these letters when you are moving in to your new home or after you have moved in an need to make some changes.

Some people have an official assitance animal, like a seeing-eye dog or certified emotional support animal. Oklahoma Law allows you to have this animal in your home regardless of the lease rules and without additional cost. 

Other people may have a medical condition or disability that requires certain things from the landlord. A request might be to have a wheelchair accessible unit or different due date for rent because the renters disability check arrives after rent is normally due.

These letters are for established renters who are having issues with their landlord.

• Did your landlord enter your home without proper notice?
• Do you need repairs and the landlord is not making them?
• Have things become so bad that you want to make a formal complaint to the Management or Public Housing Authroity? 

Are you the victim of abuse or domestic violence? If so, it may be a good time to move out.

Oklahoma law allows domestic violence victims to break a lease and move out of their rented home if they are living with their abuser. Landlords cannot charge you for moving out in these cases.

Has your landlord not returned your security deposit or pre-paid rent after you left? 

You have 6 months from the day your lease ended or you moved out to request your security deposit.
The landlord has 45 days to either:

• return your full security deposit, or
• give a reason why the full deposit is not being returned. 

It is a good habit to make your landlord or property manager verify that you returned your keys. This form can help you create proof that your keys were returned. 

Sometimes people move in a hurry and property is left behind. This could be because of an emergency, pressure from the landlord, or because of an eviction. Some property cannot be kept or taken by the landlord. The "Exempt Property" form can tell the landlord which property they are not allowd to keep.