Security Deposit Demand Letter

This workflow surfaces in QuillDraft, the landlord-tenant product. It is filtered out of the Vaquill in-house gallery.

Best for: a tenant who moved out, did not get the deposit back on time, and wants the statute-backed demand letter that comes before small claims. Generates a state-specific demand letter citing the statutory return deadline and the bad-faith penalty, demanding the money back and setting up a small-claims filing. This is the documented first step every small-claims judge expects to see.


Category	Litigation
Jurisdiction	US
Practice areas	Landlord-tenant, consumer protection
Runtime	3-8 minutes

Screenshot of the Security Deposit Demand Letter launcher showing its document slots and input form — The Security Deposit Demand Letter launcher: document slots, inputs, and what you get

What you need

No documents. This workflow runs entirely from the form.

Inputs

Field	Type	Required	Notes
State where the rental is located	Select	Yes	Drives the statutory return deadline (California 21 days, New York 14, Texas 30), the itemization rule, and the bad-faith penalty the letter cites.
Your name	Party name	Yes	Tenant.
Your forwarding address	Long text	Yes	Providing a written forwarding address is itself a legal step. In several states the deposit clock starts when the landlord receives it.
Landlord / property manager name	Party name	Yes
Landlord address	Long text	No	Where the letter will be mailed.
Rental unit address	Long text	Yes
Deposit you paid	Text	Yes
Amount not returned	Text	Yes	The dollar amount you are demanding back.
Move-out date	Date	Yes	When you returned possession. The statutory deadline counts from here in most states.
Date you gave a written forwarding address	Date	No	In some states the deadline runs from this date instead of move-out.
Deductions you dispute	Long text	No	Describe what the landlord claimed and why it is normal wear and tear rather than damage.
Days you will give the landlord to pay	Select	No	7, 10, 14, or 21 days. Defaults to 14.
Tone	Select	No	Collaborative · firm · final warning. Defaults to firm.

How it runs

A drafting pipeline: prepare → generate → export. The state selects the governing statute, its deadline, and its penalty provision; the letter is generated from your figures and dates and exported as DOCX.

What you get

Artifact	Format	Contents
Security Deposit Demand Letter	DOCX	The demand with the statutory deadline, the bad-faith penalty, your itemized dispute, and the small-claims escalation.

What this will not do

File the small-claims case or serve the landlord for you.
Guarantee the deposit will be returned or that a court will award penalties.
Confirm the exact current deadline, penalty multiplier, or filing rules for your state. Verify these before relying on them.
Calculate your precise statutory damages or represent you at the hearing.

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Overview

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Workflow Builder

Security Deposit Demand Letter

What you need

Inputs

How it runs

What you get

What this will not do

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