Demand letter prep service

The job

Intake is a short form or a ten-minute conversation: what happened, what proof they have, what they want (refund, deposit back, corrected bill, contractor to finish or refund). You run the applicable rights lookup, whether that’s tenant deposit law, consumer billing rights, or a small-claims threshold check for a contractor dispute, and the engine returns the statute, the deadline it imposes, and the language a demand letter needs to invoke it.

You turn that into a letter: what happened, what the client is owed, the citation that backs it, a deadline, and what happens next if the deadline passes (a filed complaint, small claims, nothing dramatic, just a clear next step). The client reads the exact letter before anything is sent, changes whatever they want changed, and approves it. Only then does it go out.

Once approved, the engine prints the letter and mails it as certified mail with tracking and proof of delivery. That receipt is often the most valuable part of the file: it is very hard for the other side to claim they never got a demand that USPS confirms they signed for.

The line you never cross

This is self-help document preparation, not legal advice, and the difference is the whole business. The client is always the author of the letter and always the one who sends it, even though your engine drafted it and your process mailed it. You operate software and logistics; you never recommend a legal strategy, never sign a letter, never send one in your own name, and never threaten criminal charges or "we will report you" in a civil demand letter, because that can cross into extortion in some jurisdictions regardless of intent. Civil next steps only: small claims, a regulatory complaint, a refund request escalation.

If a client’s situation is bigger than a demand letter, personal injury, a real contract fight, anything headed for litigation, you say so plainly and point them to a lawyer. That referral costs you nothing and it is the single fastest way to earn trust in this business.

Why the letter works without a lawyer

A demand letter works even without a law degree behind it because a lot of statutes are written to reward exactly this step: many states require a written demand before a landlord owes double or treble damages on a withheld deposit, many consumer-protection laws start their response clock the day a demand is received, and fee-shifting provisions in some statutes only trigger once the other side has been formally asked and refused. The letter doesn’t need a bar number. It needs the right citation, the right deadline, and proof it arrived.

Certified mail solves the "we never got it" problem outright: the signature confirmation is dated evidence the recipient can’t credibly dispute later, in a demand file or in small claims court. Between the citation and the delivery receipt, substance is doing the work that letterhead used to do.

Who it suits

Suits someone with patience for paperwork, plain writing, and a customer-service temperament: comfortable telling someone their case is weak, comfortable sending the letter when it’s strong. No legal background required; the engine carries the statute knowledge. It stacks well next to the recovery blueprints (subscription review, medical bill review, insurance documentation) since the mailing step is identical across all of them.

Startup cost and tools

Engine prices are the live public catalog prices, the same sheet agents pay. No subscription is required to use them.

The licensing question

Drafting a letter that the client reads, edits, signs, and sends in their own name is self-help document preparation in most places and doesn’t require a license; giving legal advice about strategy, or negotiating and representing the client in a dispute, is the unauthorized practice of law almost everywhere. Stay a preparer: you supply the citation and the draft, the client supplies the decision and the signature. Flat fee, never a percentage of any recovery. Where a state or country regulates "legal document assistants" or similar (a handful of US states do), register if it applies to you before you charge your first customer.

How the engine does the heavy lifting

The engine runs rights lookups across tenant deposit law, consumer billing protections, and small-claims thresholds, returning the applicable statute, its deadline, and citation language a letter can use. Once the client approves the drafted letter, the same engine prints and mails it as certified mail, with a tracking number and delivery confirmation you hand back to them.

Your first customer in 30 days

1. Write your own demand letter first, for a real deposit or billing dispute if you have one on hand, start to finish including the certified mail step, so you’ve walked the whole path before charging anyone.
2. Write the scope page in plain language: what you do (research, draft, mail), what you never do (give legal advice, sign anything, send anything in your own name, threaten criminal action), and where the lawyer referral line sits.
3. Set one flat price for the package (draft plus certified mailing) and one lower price for draft-only, for clients who want to print and mail it themselves.
4. Offer three letters free or at cost to people you know with a live dispute, and track what happens after the certified receipt lands. A refunded deposit or a paid invoice is your best testimonial.
5. Introduce yourself to a local tenant-rights group or small-business network; referrals in this lane come from people who’ve seen the statute work, not from ads.

A worked example

Worked example with real receipts — coming shortly. A real, documented run (an actual letter, an actual USPS tracking number, an actual delivery confirmation) will replace this note once our payment-rail credentials are live end to end. Until then, this section stays a placeholder rather than a guess.

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