IELTS Semi-formal Letter: Letter to Landlord Regarding Apartment Maintenance Issues

The task

You and your family have just rented an apartment and one or two problems occurred.

Write a letter to the landlord. In your letter:

→describe the problems
→tell him what you want him to do

Write at least 150 words. You do not need to write any addresses. Begin your letter: Dear ...,

Model answer

Band 8 sample letter

Band 8182 words. Names and details are invented; write your own.

Dear Mr. Henderson,

I am writing to you regarding the apartment at 14 Oakwood Terrace, which my family and I moved into earlier this week. While we are very pleased with the location, we have encountered a few maintenance issues that require your attention.

Firstly, the dishwasher in the kitchen appears to be faulty. Despite following the manual’s instructions, it fails to drain properly, leaving standing water at the bottom after every cycle. Furthermore, the master bedroom window does not seal correctly. This has resulted in a significant draft, making the room uncomfortably cold during the night, and it also lets in a considerable amount of street noise.

Could you please arrange for a qualified technician to inspect both the dishwasher and the window seal at your earliest convenience? We are generally home on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, so please let us know if a contractor could visit during those times. We would appreciate it if these repairs could be addressed quickly to ensure the property is fully functional.

Thank you for your prompt assistance with these matters.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Thorne

Write your own and get a band

Answer this prompt in a timed General Training writing test and get a band for task achievement, coherence, vocabulary and grammar, with the sentences to fix.

Write a letter, get a band free →

Examiner's view

Why this scores well

A Band 8 response clearly addresses all bullet points with specific, relevant details while maintaining a consistently polite yet firm semi-formal tone. A common Band 6 mistake is failing to provide specific times for the repair or using overly aggressive language that shifts the tone away from a professional landlord-tenant relationship.

→Write to someone you know but not closely, such as a manager, landlord or neighbour, using their title and surname.
→Polite and friendly at once: a few contractions are fine, slang is not. Close with Yours sincerely or Kind regards.
→State the purpose in the first two sentences; small talk costs words you need for the bullets.

6 phrases

Useful phrases from the letter

maintenance issues
problems related to the upkeep of a property
faulty
not working correctly or having defects
standing water
water that is not moving or draining
draft
a current of cool air in a room
at your earliest convenience
as soon as it is easy for you
fully functional
working exactly as intended without any errors

Frequently asked questions

Is this letter formal or informal?+

Semi-formal. Write to someone you know but not closely, such as a manager, landlord or neighbour, using their title and surname.

How many words should an IELTS General Training letter be?+

At least 150 words, and 160 to 200 is the comfortable range. Spend about 20 minutes on it and leave 40 for Task 2, which carries twice the marks.

What does the examiner look for?+

Keep practising

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