You have been living in a rental apartment for the past year. Recently a new neighbour moved in and has been making a lot of noise, which disturbs you. Write a letter to the landlord. In your letter: - explain the situation - describe why it bothers you - suggest a solution
Sample Response
Dear Mr Hudson, I am Elizabeth Beth, your tenant in apartment C1-5. I am writing to notify you of the unbearable noise the new tenant of C1-3 is making which I have endured for the last couple of days with patience. I hope that you willI am hoping that you would talk to this neighbour and settle the issue. I consider myself lucky to have some great neighbours and have never complainedand never complained to you about any disturbance. However, the new resident inon C1-3 is disrupting my daily lifemaking life tougher for me. They moved in two weeks ago and I already feel compelledam already forced to write this complaint letter to youwrite you this complaint letter. They have parties almost every day and play music at high volumeat a higher volume. I go to bed at around 10.30 pm only to be woken bywake up again by the loud noise from their flat. I am not sure if this is something I should mention but the family members have loud argumentsnasty quarrels and their arguments can be heard outside their apartmentthey do not keep it inside their house. I live with a teenage daughter and a husband who are equally disturbedagitated. I think it would be inappropriate for me to approach them directlypersonally intervene, and that is why I am relying on you for a solution. You should talk to other tenants on the same floor and get to know what is really happeningwhat really is happening. You have the authority to speaktalk to the tenant of C1-3 and try to solve the problem. Otherwise, I maywould be forced to move to another homeshift to a new residence. Expecting your cooperation in this regard. Yours sincerely, Elizabeth Beth
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fully explains the noise problem, its effect on sleep and family life, and several actions the landlord could take, while maintaining a generally suitable complaint tone. Its main weakness is an overlong single-block presentation with recurring grammatical and collocational lapses; prioritise grouping the situation, impact, and solution into separate paragraphs and correcting relative clauses, agreement, and phrases such as "wake up by the loud noise."
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is immediately clear, all three bullet points are fully developed, and the proposed landlord actions are specific and relevant.
Keep the detailed evidence but make the final consequence less abrupt by framing relocation as the likely outcome if the disturbance continues.
Coherence and Cohesion
The content follows a sensible situation-impact-solution sequence, but the lack of paragraph breaks and some repetition make the long letter less easy to navigate.
Create separate paragraphs for the complaint details, personal effects, and requested action, removing repeated statements about contacting the neighbour.
Lexical Resource
A flexible range of complaint vocabulary communicates the situation effectively, despite occasional awkward collocations such as "at a higher volume" and "shift to a new residence."
Use more natural phrases such as "play loud music," "woken by the noise," and "move to another property."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Varied sentence structures are used with generally clear meaning, although relative clauses, agreement, tense choice, and the final sentence fragment need firmer control.
Repair the opening relative clause, match "daughter and husband" with "are," and turn "Expecting your cooperation" into a complete closing sentence.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have been living in a rental apartment for the past year. Recently a new neighbour moved in and has been making a lot of noise, which disturbs you. Write a letter to the landlord. In your letter:
- explain the situation
- describe why it bothers you
- suggest a solution
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.