The High Court has given new guidance on the date upon which a landlord’s notice to end a tenancy, which has been sent by recorded delivery, is to take effect.
Neuberger J has ruled that, under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, such notice is served on the date of posting, rather than on the date of receipt by the tenant.
The judge struck out an application for a new tenancy, brought by Egg Stores (Stamford Hill) Ltd on 8 May 2002. He held that the application was outside the relevant four-month limitation period because the date of service of the notice by the landlord, Beanby Estates Ltd, was 7 January, when the notice was sent by recorded delivery, rather than 9 January, the date upon which it was received.
Although the High Court acknowledged that some unfairness would be inevitable, it maintained that, in the interests of certainty, the notice must take effect upon posting.
Section 23 of the Act specified three methods of service: personally, at the recipients’ premises, and by recorded delivery. The court held that, since the first two methods implied that the moment of service equated to the moment of delivery, service by recorded delivery must be governed by the same factors, and the act of sending would therefore equate to the act of serving.
Beanby Estates Ltd v Egg Stores (Stamford Hill) Ltd Chancery Division (Neuberger J) 9 May 2003.
Siri Cope (instructed by Pothecary & Barratt) appeared for the claimant; Marie-Claire Bleasdale (instructed by Bude Nathan Iwanier) appeared for the defendant.
References: PLS News 12/5/03
