Landlord’s notice to quit ruled invalid over identity issue

A landlord’s notice to quit has been ruled invalid because, although it was delivered to the correct address, it incorrectly identified an individual as the tenant instead of his company.

Mark Aspin Director and Head of Dispute Resolution reports on this recent case.

The case involved Thomas and Turner.

Mr Thomas had been granted a tenancy of an agricultural holding. He then assigned it to his company, OG Thomas Amaethyddiaeth CYF, without informing the landlord. 

The landlord served a notice to quit by recorded delivery post to Thomas at his home address, which was also the company’s registered office. Neither Thomas nor the company served a counter-notice. 

The landlord brought a claim seeking validation of the notice. 

The High Court held that the notice to quit was valid despite having been addressed to Thomas, as a reasonable recipient of the notice would have appreciated that a mistake had been made in naming the tenant and would have read it as having been addressed to the company.

The Court of Appeal overturned that decision.

It held that although a notice could be considered valid where the name of a correctly identified recipient was wrongly spelled, it could not be rescued where the recipient was wrongly identified.

A notice addressed to A and received by A could not be regarded as being a notice given to B, even if A knew that B would have been the correct recipient. 

If you would like more information about the issues raise in this article or any aspect of commercial property law please contact Mark on 01228 516666 or click here to send him an email.