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A saving formula is wording in a notice to quit, which provides a fallback date if any written date within the notice is wrong.
It is used when the date of expiry must be precise, such as if the notice must expire on the last day of the tenancy period.
The use of saving formulas has been long approved, including, in particular, Elias v Spencer [2010] EWCA Civ 246.
In Spencer v Taylor [2013] EWCA Civ 1600, a section 21 notice was served, which contained a date and a saving formula. It was suggested that for this combination to be acceptable, the dates and formula might need to be more apparent than first thought.
Note: a section 21 notice no longer requires a specific date of expiry, so this case is only relevant to a notice to quit for a contractual tenancy or similar.
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This new section 35 changes this and essentially makes the Spencer rule apply in all cases. Section 21 Housing Act 1988 will have a new sub-section 4ZA added which reads-“(4ZA) In the case of a dwelling-house in England, subsection(4)(a) above has effect with the omission of
What form should be used? The landlord must use a prescribed form known as"Form 6A" when serving a Section 21 notice. You can obtain the prescribed form from here, or you can get it from landlord associations or solicitors. What expiry date should I put on the notice? The expiry date of a notice is
” Although this applies to a contractual break clause, the principle applies to all notices. That is why most section 21 notices containing the wrong date are considered invalid, even when the tenant might be aware of the correct date. Section 13 rent increase held invalid In addition, in Mooney v W
This is an interesting point as the same question has been raised(although not at such a level) about section 21(4)(a) notices and the possibility of ambiguity if they contain both a date and a saving provision. It would seem that this argument is dead(but is irrelevant now because section 21
This new section 35 changes this and essentially makes the Spencer rule apply in all cases. Section 21 Housing Act 1988 will have a new sub-section 4ZA added which reads-“(4ZA) In the case of a dwelling-house in England, subsection(4)(a) above has effect with the omission of
What form should be used? The landlord must use a prescribed form known as"Form 6A" when serving a Section 21 notice. You can obtain the prescribed form from here, or you can get it from landlord associations or solicitors. What expiry date should I put on the notice? The expiry date of a notice is
” Although this applies to a contractual break clause, the principle applies to all notices. That is why most section 21 notices containing the wrong date are considered invalid, even when the tenant might be aware of the correct date. Section 13 rent increase held invalid In addition, in Mooney v W
This is an interesting point as the same question has been raised(although not at such a level) about section 21(4)(a) notices and the possibility of ambiguity if they contain both a date and a saving provision. It would seem that this argument is dead(but is irrelevant now because section 21
This new section 35 changes this and essentially makes the Spencer rule apply in all cases. Section 21 Housing Act 1988 will have a new sub-section 4ZA added which reads-“(4ZA) In the case of a dwelling-house in England, subsection(4)(a) above has effect with the omission of
What form should be used? The landlord must use a prescribed form known as"Form 6A" when serving a Section 21 notice. You can obtain the prescribed form from here, or you can get it from landlord associations or solicitors. What expiry date should I put on the notice? The expiry date of a notice is
” Although this applies to a contractual break clause, the principle applies to all notices. That is why most section 21 notices containing the wrong date are considered invalid, even when the tenant might be aware of the correct date. Section 13 rent increase held invalid In addition, in Mooney v W