Recent cases addressing the issue of serving notice to quit a property following the tenant’s death have resulted in conflicting outcomes. Rea Murray and Toby Vanhegan provide some clarification
Serving notice to quit after the death of a tenant involves serving the personal representative at the property and serving of a copy notice on the Public Trustee. This will lead to difficulties because each recipient needs to know that the other was validly served before he knows that valid notice has been given.
There are conflicting lower-court authorities on the technical requirements of giving valid notice to quit in these circumstances. So how might this be done?
Method of service
When a tenant dies and his tenancy forms part of his real and personal estate it vests in the Public Trustee until the grant of administration or representation: Administration of Estates Act 1925, s.9; Law o...
