IELTS semi-formal letter: Asking a landlord to fix the heating

Semi-formal letterComplaint · General Training

The task

The heating in the flat you rent has stopped working. Write a letter to your landlord.

In your letter
• explain what the problem is
• describe how it is affecting you
• say what you want your landlord to do

Write at least 150 words. You do NOT need to write any addresses at the top of your letter.

Begin your letter as follows:
Dear Mr Hughes,

Write your letter

Then get an estimated band, with checks on every bullet point, your tone and the letter format.

0 words · 150 more to reach 150

Write your own letter first, then compare. Reading a model before you write tends to make you copy it.

The plan

Purpose: the heating is broken; ask for a repair.
Bullet 1: when it stopped and what you have tried.
Bullet 2: two effects on you.
Bullet 3: a repair soon, and access arrangements.
Close: polite thanks; “Yours sincerely” because the name is used.

Model letter

184 words

Our checker: 8.0Task 8Coherence 8Vocabulary 8Grammar 8

Dear Mr Hughes,

I am writing to let you know that the heating in my flat at 14 Elm Court has stopped working, and to ask you to arrange a repair as soon as possible.

The problem started last Tuesday, when the radiators suddenly went cold. The boiler is making a loud clicking noise and the display shows an error code, E119. I have tried resetting it, following the instructions in the manual, but unfortunately this has not helped.

As you can imagine, this is making life quite difficult. The temperature has dropped below five degrees at night this week, and the flat is now so cold that my young daughter has caught a bad cold. I have also had to buy an electric heater, which is expensive to run.

I would be grateful if you could send an engineer this week. I work from home on Thursdays and Fridays, so either of those days would be convenient, but I am happy to leave a key with my neighbour if another day suits you better.

Thank you for your help.

Yours sincerely,
Priya Sharma

The highlighted paragraph states the purpose; each paragraph after it covers one bullet point. Scored by the MyBandPrep checker on 7 October 2026. An estimate, not an examiner’s mark. How scoring works

Why it works

Task Achievement: All three bullets are covered and extended with useful facts (the date, the error code, what was tried) and real effects. The request is specific and practical.
Coherence and Cohesion: Paragraphs follow the bullets; the opening sentence states both the problem and the request.
Lexical Resource: The tone is polite but not stiff, which suits a landlord: let you know, As you can imagine, quite difficult, suits you better.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Accurate present perfect and past simple, a so…that structure, relative clauses and a conditional request.

Phrases worth reusing

I am writing to let you know that
As you can imagine, this is making life quite difficult.
I would be grateful if you could
if another day suits you better