You’d Beitov believe it!

Section 47 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (“LTA87”) provides that “where any written demand is given to a tenant of a dwelling, the demand must contain:

(a) the name and address of the landlord, and

(b) if that address is not in England and Wales, an address in England and Wales at which notices (including notices in proceedings) may be served on the landlord by the tenant.”

In Beitov Properties Limited v Martin, the UTLC had to decide the meaning of the term “address”. Until recently, it has been common practice for agents to include their own address on service charge demands. George Bartlett QC, President of the UTLC disagreed. If demands do not contain this information, they will not be valid and the amount requested in the demand will not be payable, until demanded correctly (except where a manager or receiver has been appointed by court order, whose functions include the collection of service charges).

This may come as a shock to some, especially in view of section 20B of the 1985 Act, which prevents the recovery of costs which have been incurred more than 18 months before the service of the demand for payment, unless the tenant has previously been notified in writing that those costs have been incurred and that he will be required to contribute towards those costs under the terms of his lease.

In the LTA87, the landlord is “the immediate landlord or, in relation to a statutory tenant, the person who, apart from the statutory tenancy, would be entitled to possession of the premises subject to the tenancy” (s60(1)). This is to be contrasted with the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, in which the “landlord” is defined to include “any person who has a right to enforce payment of a service charge” (s30).

While it may seem odd that demands are required to contain a personal address, which may be completely irrelevant to the day to day management of the premises, it should be remembered section 48 of the LTA87 requires a landlord “by notice furnish the tenant with an address in England and Wales at which notices (including notices in proceedings) may be served on him by the tenant”.

There is no prescribed form of notice, but it must be in writing and it may be sent in the post.

It is important that great care is taken when serving demands on residential lessees, be it for service charge or ground rent (In the case of ground rent demands, note that there is also a prescribed form of demand, which must be used). Seemingly innocuous mistakes can have disastrous consequences. 

Roger Hardwick is Head of Leasehold Enfranchisement at Brethertons LLP