Letter of Demand

Whether you’re an individual, start-up, small business or an established company, you may be struggling to deal with someone who is not paying you what you are owed or not performing their contractual obligations. No matter the reasoning behind why this is occurring, it can be incredibly frustrating for you to chase down, especially if the other side is unresponsive.

A letter of demand is a formal legal letter demanding action from a third party. The letter will outline your claim and set out your legal rights that are being infringed upon and a time frame within which the other party must comply. Receiving a formal letter from a lawyer is an effective way of letting the other party know that you are serious, and giving the impression that you intend to escalate the matter to court if it is not settled, if those are in fact your intentions at the time. It also gives the recipient one final chance to take action to resolve the matter.

This solution is ideal if you wish to:

• adopt a harder line with a debtor;
• accelerate the collection of a more sizeable amount owed;
• indicate to the recipient the seriousness with which you are treating the matter.

A letter of demand will typically include the following:

• the amount that is owed;
• how the amount is calculated (i.e. an unpaid invoice, or monies owing pursuant to a contract);
• the due date for the payment– typically a short period of either 7 or 14 days;
• a statement that legal proceedings may or will follow if the demands in the letter are ignored.

The Gladwin Legal team has extensive experience in drafting effective letters of demand. Our letters of demand are priced from $350 including GST. A letter of demand will not be suitable for a $350 fixed fee quotation where the matter it is complex or there is voluminous documentation for us to review. In these situations, more involved discussion prior to issuing the letter will enable us to identify a more appropriate fixed-fee quotation and other potential actions or claims to include in the letter.