The Law To Know

The Verification Lab · For lawyers · Free

The notice served late

The situation

You advise a tenant, Ms Desrosiers. Her landlord, Marlow Estates, posted her a notice to end the tenancy. She asks whether it is valid. You asked an AI assistant for a first memo and have the file open beside it.

What the AI was asked

Advise whether Marlow Estates’ notice to end Ms Desrosiers’ tenancy is valid.

Every court, statute and person in this exercise is fictional (the Republic of Eastmark). Use only the source pack below, as you would use the real documents: nothing outside it counts.

The AI’s memo

For each sentence, decide: is it supported by the source pack, or is there a problem? Choose the kind of problem if you can.

  1. 1.Marlow Estates posted the notice on Friday 3 May 2024, and it states that the tenancy ends on 5 July 2024.

  2. 2.Section 4 requires a landlord to give a periodic tenant not less than two months’ written notice.

  3. 3.Under section 5, a notice sent by post is deemed served on the second working day after posting, and weekends and public holidays are not working days.

  4. 4.Monday 6 May was an ordinary working day, so the notice is deemed served on Tuesday 7 May.

  5. 5.Two months from 7 May ends on 7 July, so a notice ending on 5 July falls two days short.

  6. 6.Section 4A allows a landlord to give shorter notice where the tenant is more than three months in arrears.

  7. 7.Okonjo v Bayfield Lettings establishes that a court can never treat a defective notice as effective.

  8. 8.In Okonjo the Court described the two-month period as ‘a guideline that courts may relax in cases of hardship’.

  9. 9.Nothing in the file shows that Ms Desrosiers has waived the defect in writing.

  10. 10.Ms Desrosiers has lived in the property for eleven years, which gives her additional statutory protection.

  11. 11.On the information in the file, the notice appears invalid, and Marlow Estates would need to serve a fresh notice that gives the full period.

0 of 11 sentences reviewed. Sentences you leave unmarked count as supported.

Professional skills training with fictional material. It is not legal advice and is not accredited by any court, regulator or professional body.