The recent case of Pease .v. Carter has confirmed that where there is a typographical error on a Section 8 Notice (Notice to pay rent arrears of leave a property) that it does not invalidate the Notice provided it passes the test of a “reasonable recipient”.
In this case the date on the Notice had been 26 November 2017 and should have been 26 November 2018; the Notice having been served in 2018. The Court of Appeal has adjudged that a reasonable recipient of the Section 8 Notice would assume there was a typographical error and would have understood that proceedings could only be issued after 26 November 2018.
This case went to the Court of Appeal who granted the Landlord permission to appeal against the dismissal of the Section 8 Notice and it is likely that he will ultimately succeed; albeit that this will have cost him considerably more in legal fees than by reserving the Section 8 Notice with an amended (and correct) date.
Whilst the option to appeal a Section 8 Notice declared invalid is an option it can prove expensive, there can also be the resultant continued rent arrears caused by having to reserve a Section 8 Notice.
Burtons offers a fixed fee service for the preparation of Section 8 Notices (our fees can be found at https://burtons-solicitors.com/services/landlord-tenant/) and it will be prepared by an experienced member of our Landlord & Tenant team.
If you would like to know more, please contact us on 01892 824 577 or on pembury@burtons-solicitors.com.
