Demand letters

Finance → Collections → Demand letters → /collections/demand-letters ^Beta

A demand letter is a formal notice to a customer in arrears. Unlike a reminder, it is evidence: the wording is pinned, the balance is frozen at the moment of issue, the PDF is stored, and the customer's acknowledgement is tracked. It is the step a handover or a legal matter is later built on.

Three ways to start one

All three produce the same letter and the same record. All three require the collections edit permission, and none of them will letter a closed case.

From one case

Open the case and choose More → Request demand letter. The letter renders in the dialog so you can read it before deciding, and you are asked Why now? — a required note that is stored on the letter and shown on the case timeline.

From a shortlist

New demand letter on the register opens a two-step dialog.

1. Choose who it is for

   Search by unit, block or case number. The list opens on the biggest debts, and ticking rows across several searches keeps everything you have already picked. A row tells you if a letter is already out on that case and has not been withdrawn, so you do not double-serve somebody.

2. Say why now

   One reason covers the whole batch.

3. Review before sending

   Each letter is rendered. Step through them with the chips at the top of the preview.

4. Send

   Letters go out one case at a time. If some fail, you are told exactly how many went and who was missed — it is not all-or-nothing.

From the worklist

Tick the rows you want on /collections/worklist and choose Send demand letters. It is the same dialog with the search step skipped — your selection is already the list.

The preview

Whichever route you take, you see the finished letter before it goes, rendered exactly as it will send. Two things on the preview are worth reading every time:

Nothing about the letter itself can be edited at send time: there is no wording box, no template picker and no recipient override in the send dialogs. Wording is a property of the template.

Approval

Settings → Collections → Documents → "Demand letters need approval" decides whether a letter you request goes straight out or waits for an administrator. It is off by default, and can be set for the whole organisation or per branch.

The approver sees the rendered letter as the customer will receive it, the unit, and the net balance, and approving is what issues it.

This setting governs letters you request by hand. A demand-letter step inside a dunning strategy carries its own approval flag, set on the step.

Choosing the wording

Letters are rendered from a template in the template library. The one that gets used is the first of these that is set:

1. The strategy step's template

   A demand-letter step on a dunning ladder can name its own template.

2. Your organisation's or branch's template

   Settings → Collections → Documents → "Demand-letter template", chosen from a list of your published templates.

3. The built-in notice

   The system Rent Arrears Demand Notice, used when nothing else is set.

Tracking what you sent

The register at /collections/demand-letters lists every demand letter and handover pack issued across all cases in your branch — when, what type, its status, the unit, who sent it, and whether the customer has acknowledged it. Filter by document type or status, and open any row.

Statuses

The letter page

Opening a letter shows what was sent and what has happened since.

Actions: Download PDF, Record acknowledgement (for a letter the customer has not acknowledged themselves), and Void (which asks for a reason).

Common problems