Notice Requirements

The Landlord must serve notice. Failure to do so means he has to convince the court to allow him to continue with the claim without notice.

The Court can only allow the landlord to continue the claim without serving notice if: it is just and equitable to do so (s.83(1)(b) Housing Act 1985.)

When deciding whether or not to proceed without service of the notice, the court will have to determine whether there was any prejudice caused to the tenant as a result of not receiving the notice.

Judicial Guidance on this issue

“The purpose of the requirement of statutory notice is to enable the relevant party to take steps to remedy the complaints so that he can be in as good a position as possible to avoid eviction” - Kelsey Housing Association v King (1996) 28 HLR 270, CA,

It is "obviously only in relatively exceptional cases where the court should be prepared to dispense with a section 83 notice". (Braintree DC v Vincent[2004] EWCA Civ 415; 9 March 2004.

It is unlikely that Court will dispense with the requirement to serve a notice in cases of rent arrears, as the tenant needs to be made aware of the amount of arrears claimed and the landlord's intention to issue proceedings in order to have enough time to remedy the situation.

Example of exceptional case where the court dispensed with the notice requirement

In the case of Kelsey Housing Association v King (1996) 28 HLR 270, CA, the court dispensed with requirement to serve notice. However, in this case, the tenant was held to have ample time to remedy the situations he was complained of doing and which as the subject of the proceedings. It did not cause the tenant prejudice that he did not have notice of the proceedings. The tenant could have remedied the situation from the point of initial complaint and by the time the possession proceedings were issued by the landlord.