How to serve tenancy documentation? – It’s all in the Lease

Richard Pulford, Senior Associate Solicitor in the Dispute Resolution team, looks at the case of Khan and another v D’Aubigny (2025) and what Landlords need to consider when serving notices and prescribed documentation on any tenant.

Serving all necessary prescribed information

We have previously discussed pre-tenancy information and the effect that failure to correctly serve these documents has on the landlord’s ability to serve a section 21 notice on a tenant in our previous blog. To re-cap, Landlords need to show effective service of the Energy Performance Certificate, How to Rent Guide and Gas Safety Certificates (if appropriate). Many landlords and managing agents will have any new tenant sign for the documents, potentially via a tenancy checklist, before they move in. However, in a situation where documentation needs to be served and this practice has either not been carried out or is not possible due to a tenant not wanting to be served, this can create some procedural difficulties.  We now have some authority on what may or may not be considered to be effective service, and as is so often the case, the wording of the tenancy agreement is crucial.

The case

Khan and another v D’Aubigny (2025) dealt with this very issue. The Landlord served the necessary prescribed information by first class post, but the tenant disputed ever receiving the documentation. At an earlier hearing, the court determined that the Landlord is entitled to rely on section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 as well as the contractual provisions in the tenancy agreement to say that the documentation had been effectively served and therefore possession was required.

The Tenant was granted permission to appeal, arguing that the scope of the Interpretation Act was not sufficient to cover the sending of these specific documents and therefore should not be relied upon by the landlord. Equally, that the notice provision within the tenancy agreement that details how any notice should be served, does not cover the service of these additional documents. These arguments made their way to the court of appeal.

The Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal ultimately sided with the Landlord. Whilst they determined that the Interpretation Act could not be relied upon for these additional documents because the relevant section of the Act relates only to where the necessary authority expressly allows and requires for service by post. With a section 21 notice, you are required to ‘serve’ or ‘give’ the notice. In the view of the CoA, this fell short of properly engaging the Interpretation Act and so could not be relied upon by the landlord.

Where the landlord was successful was in that the clause in their specific tenancy agreement used the wording that notices ‘sent under or in connection with’ the tenancy, was viewed as suitably wide to cover the service of these additional documents and therefore the documents have been served correctly. This also meant that despite the tenant being able to convince the court that, on the balance of probability, they did not get the documentation, this alone was not enough to defeat the Landlord’s evidence of proof of service. The documents were therefore deemed served.

Conclusion

This is a good result and important decision for landlords everywhere. It is also another example of the importance of the specific wording of the tenancy agreement. Many of you reading may be thinking that a case relating to the service of section 21s will have little long-term importance, considering the imminent Renters Rights Act. However, we would argue that just because you will no longer need to serve a section 21 notice, this will not be the end of your requirements to serve documentation and for there to be significant ramifications for failure to properly do so.  Therefore, a well and widely drafted notice clause retains its crucial importance so that landlords and agents can safely rely on this particular method to provide information to the tenant and not get caught some months later with the all too commonly heard “well, I didn’t get it”.

Whenever anyone is presented with a situation like this, early advice is always recommended. If any landlords or managing agents require advice regarding tenancy interpretation or any landlord and tenant matter, please contact us.