header-logo header-logo

13 January 2023 / Caroline Shea KC , Thomas Rothwell
Issue: 8008 / Categories: Features , Property , Landlord&tenant
printer mail-detail

Guess who? Serving notice to the right recipient

106315
The incurable case of the misidentified tenant: Caroline Shea KC & Thomas Rothwell consider a decision of the Court of Appeal on incorrectly addressed notices
  • In OG Thomas Amaethyddiaeth Cyf and another v Turner and others, the Court of Appeal has ruled that for a notice to quit to be valid, it is a fundamental requirement of the common law that notice is given to the tenant.
  • This implies that a notice addressed to A and received by A cannot be regarded as being a notice given to B, even if A knows that B would have been the correct recipient of it.

Landlord and tenant practitioners will be fully familiar with scrutinising property notices for their substantive validity. Where a notice contains an error, they will also routinely grasp for the ‘reasonable recipient’ test laid down in the well-known case of Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Life Assurance Co Ltd [1997] AC 749.

In last year’s decision

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

NLJ Career Profile: Daniel Burbeary, Michelman Robinson

NLJ Career Profile: Daniel Burbeary, Michelman Robinson

Daniel Burbeary, office managing partner of Michelman Robinson, discusses launching in London, the power of the law, and what the kitchen can teach us about litigating

Wedlake Bell—Rebecca Christie

Wedlake Bell—Rebecca Christie

Firm welcomes partner with specialist expertise in family and art law

Birketts—Álvaro Aznar

Birketts—Álvaro Aznar

Dual-qualified partner joins international private client team

NEWS

The Court of Appeal has slammed the brakes on claimants trying to swap defendants after limitation has expired. In Adcamp LLP v Office Properties and BDB Pitmans v Lee [2026] EWCA Civ 50, it overturned High Court rulings that had allowed substitutions under s 35(6)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980, reports Sarah Crowther of DAC Beachcroft in this week's NLJ

Cheating in driving tests is surging—and courts are responding firmly. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort Law School charts a rise in impersonation and tech-assisted fraud, with 2,844 attempts recorded in a year
As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR
In a striking financial remedies ruling, the High Court cut a wife’s award by 40% for coercive and controlling behaviour. Writing in NLJ this week, Chris Bryden and Nicole Wallace of 4 King’s Bench Walk analyse LP v MP [2025] EWFC 473
A €60.9m award to Kylian Mbappé has refocused attention on football’s controversial ‘ethics bonus’ clauses. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Estelle Ivanova of Valloni Attorneys at Law examines how such provisions sit within French labour law
back-to-top-scroll