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Letter-writing is fundamental to any sort of negotiations between a landlord and his or her tenants, especially when the latter are organized as a tenants association. Letters provide a "paper trail" or documentation of the dialogue between both parties, as it unfolds. Figuring out what to include in a given letter also forces tenants to decide exactly what it is that they are trying to do, or convince their landlord to do, and makes those demands explicitly clear to everyone involved.
The sample letters below are from City Life/Vida Urbana and are intended to be used as templates: that means, feel free to "borrow" the basic form, but be sure to read the notes that accompany each letter and make ALL the necessary changes to best tailor the letter for your particular situation. Each letter is given in both HTML and Microsoft Word format.
Introduction/Conditions HTML | Word
The content of letters like this one is determined as much by what you want supporters on the “cc” list to see as what you want the owner to see. This letter establishes the existence of the tenant association and creates an initial list of serious problems to address (but makes it clear there are other conditions as well). It also takes a public stand that it’s wrong for the owner to maximize profit while bad conditions exist by continuing increases for all these families. These tenants have won improvements and defeated evictions, but the struggle is still ongoing.
In this case, the owner was trying to push tenants to make a decision quickly (a) to agree to buy or (b) to agree to move. This letter was designed to give a group response to avoid the necessity of individual responses and to initiate collective bargaining over the terms of the sale. These tenants established that they were protected by the City condo conversion ordinance (stronger than the state). They are now negotiating towards sales. The owner offered buy-outs significantly in excess of the first offer.
Mass. Rent Increase HTML | Word
The content of letters like this one is determined as much by what you want supporters on the “cc” list to see as what you want the owner to see. This letter establishes the existence of the tenant association and takes a public stand that it’s wrong for the owner to maximize profit if it means such large increases for all these families. These tenants achieved a 3-year contract, which covered over 40 families, limiting increases to about 5% per year.
Mass. Sec. 8 Eviction HTML | Word
The content of letters like this one is determined as much by what you want supporters on the “cc” list to see as what you want the owner to see. This letter establishes the existence of the tenant association and takes a public stand that it’s wrong for the owner to maximize profit if it means displacing all these families. After considerable struggle, including large rallies, these tenants won a 3-year contract. This and similar letters helped win crucial and active community support.
Small Building Eviction HTML | Word
The content of letters like this one is determined as much by what you want people on the “cc” list to see as what you want the owner to see. A similar letter was sent to the developer seeking to buy these tenants’ homes. The controversy caused that developer to back away. The eviction was then dropped and the tenants negotiated a sale of the building directly to them.
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