Legal letters
Legal letters for UK businesses
What makes a letter work
Not the tone. A letter carries weight when it names the right legal ground, states the facts that ground actually needs, makes a specific demand with a real deadline, and stops. Most template letters fail on the second of those: they are written to sound serious rather than to satisfy a test, so the recipient’s solicitor reads them and sees nothing they have to answer.
The ground decides what the letter may demand
Each of these letters is a different legal argument, and the rules are not interchangeable. A harassment demand needs a course of conduct — conduct on at least two occasions, under s.7 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 — so a letter describing one incident is asking for a remedy the statute does not provide for it. A defamation demand needs serious harm under s.1 of the Defamation Act 2013, which for a company trading for profit means serious financial loss, and it has to be brought inside a year. An invoice dispute is strongest when you pay the undisputed part and withhold the rest, because that is the conduct a court expects to see.
And some letters carry a risk in the other direction. A demand that threatens infringement proceedings over a registered trade mark can itself be actionable by anyone aggrieved by the threat, under s.21A of the Trade Marks Act 1994 — which is why the cease and desist tool will not assert a registered mark unless you give it a registration number.
Sending one and answering one are different documents
Four of the thirteen exist because a letter landed on your desk rather than the other way round: answering a cease and desist, a solicitor’s letter, an employee grievance, a disputed invoice. Those are not the outbound letter with the names swapped. Answering well means conceding what is true, disputing what is not, and admitting nothing you did not have to — and where the claim against you is weak, saying so plainly and flagging any threat that was not justified.
Jurisdiction is a question the letter has to answer
England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland part company on most of this, and the difference is often the whole point. Defamation runs on the Defamation Act 2013 in England and Wales, the Defamation and Malicious Publication (Scotland) Act 2021 in Scotland, and in Northern Ireland on a 2022 Act that was passed without a serious-harm threshold, so the bar there is lower. Harassment in Scotland runs through s.8 of the 1997 Act, with interdict and a non-harassment order rather than the English injunction. Every letter here asks where it happened before it decides what you may demand.
Everything in this family
13 in total. Each one produces a finished document from your details — one credit, on your letterhead where the document takes one, for you to review and send.
Suppliers & money
Supplier / refund dispute
Faulty goods, a bad hire, or poor service from a supplier — your rights depend on whether you bought, hired or contracted for a service (B2B, not the consumer act).
Formal complaint
A structured B2B complaint with a deadline and the right escalation route.
Business insurance claim
Push back on a declined or underpaid commercial claim — Insurance Act 2015 + the FOS (SME) route.
Dispute an invoice / overcharge
Push back on an incorrect or inflated invoice — pay the undisputed part, withhold the rest, demand a corrected invoice or credit note.
Disputes
Breach of contract notice
Put the other party on notice of a breach of a commercial contract — demand the cure, reserve your rights.
Cease & desist
Demand someone stop unlawful conduct against your business — defamation, harassment, IP infringement.
Read the detail →Respond to a cease & desist
Received one? Push back firmly where the claim is weak — and flag any unjustified threats.
Terminate a contract
End a commercial contract cleanly — for convenience or for breach — with the right notice so you don't repudiate it yourself.
Settlement offer (full & final)
Offer to settle a dispute in full and final settlement — Without Prejudice, with the mechanics done correctly.
Respond to a solicitor's letter
Reply to a solicitor's letter or letter before claim — answer the allegations, follow the pre-action protocol, admit nothing you shouldn't.
Premises & people
Commercial lease / premises
A dispute over business premises — repairs, service charge, rent, or renewal under the L&T Act 1954.
Respond to an employee grievance
Reply correctly to a grievance under the ACAS Code — protect your position as the employer.
General
General legal letter
Any other dispute — contract, debt, data protection, tort. We apply the right framework.
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Start your free trialAlmost Legal is AI drafting software grounded in UK law, not a law firm — you review and send everything it produces. General information on this page is not legal advice for your situation.