UK Landlord Forum / Life

On 2nd Sept. 2015, I sent N5B Claim form for possession of property to Court and a copy of this was sent to my tenant through Post Office by Recorded Delivery. The Court sent their acknowledgment of receiving this case at the court also informed me that they have sent a copy of this case to my defendant (IE my Tenant) and that he has 14 days to reply their letter. Then, if I did not receive  from them I was told to send a slip from their letter back to them in which I did after that 14 days. Now , it was on 15th Oct. 2015 I received RETURNED N5B CLAIM FORM envelop, a copy posted  to my tenant by recorded delivery and at the back of  that  envelop the Royal Mail marked "Not Call For". Showing that they did not meet him at home to sign for it and he did not go there to collect it.
My question is  Since this my tenant refused to collect this Claim Form " will this not have effect on his case that I took to  court or what effect can this cause?". Although, all the evidences requested was submitted to court including the prove of postage of his own  letter that was registered to him.
Please, I need your advice and help.
Please you can also contact me, my email address is:  olasupo_246@hotmail.com
Thanks for your usual help.
Joshua Olasupo
Landlord Member   

Please get legal advice.

I assume they will say it doesn't matter, as normally proof of postage is sufficient, if it needs to be "served" then a Bailiff is required I think.

But I'm not sure, and would you really rely on some no mark on a forum for this sort of shit.

I hope it sorts itself out for you.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL ABOUT ADVICE RECEIVED FROM A BLOG (including my own)
Do your own research

Hi Jo
As you have quite rightly done you tried to do what was required to have served a notice under the 1988 Housing Act section 8(3)
However you need to check your tenancy agreement most likely it either says or by exclusion means that notice will be served according to section section 196 of the Law of Property Act 1925

I've copied para 4 below (as para 3 is about leaving at the abode blah blah which you didn't)

(4)Any notice required or authorised by this Act to be served shall also be sufficiently served, if it is sent by post in a registered letter addressed to the lessee, lessor, mortgagee, mortgagor, or other person to be served, by name, at the aforesaid place of abode or business, office, or counting-house, and if that letter is not returned by the postal operator (within the meaning of the Postal Services Act 2000) concerned undelivered; and that service shall be deemed to be made at the time at which the registered letter would in the ordinary course be delivered.

The 1925 Act (and some leases and other contractual documents) refers to service by registered post. Many contracts and leases also refer to registered post.  Technically, registered post no longer exists. However, the Recorded Delivery Service Act 1962 effectively replaces references to registered post with recorded delivery. 

So legally you may have failed to serve notice and consequently your case should get thrown out ......
HOWEVER there is case law that states that where a notice is served by a primary method authorised by section 23 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, it matters not whether the notice was actually received....copied below:

1)Any notice, request, demand or other instrument under this Act shall be in writing and may be served on the person on whom it is to be served either personally, or by leaving it for him at his last known place of abode in England or Wales, or by sending it through the post in a registered letter addressed to him there

You note the words about redelivery from the postal service are not there but again depends on your tenancy agreement regarding notices.
hope that's clear then... the next bit might help....

now comes the bit based on experience and is not strictly the legal position...

Along with the plethora of documents you will need (sent) to send to the court is a Certificate of Service Form N215
Along with the Certificate of Service you will need to (you did?) attach your "proof" that you posted the notice...
You will see on this form there are statutory limitations on effectiveness of the notice based on when they are DEEMED to be delivered. There is no requirement to PROVE they were DELIVERED
I'm almost certain a judge doesn't know the difference between the Royal Mail "Certificate of Posting" and "Signed For" service, which has been muddied by the change in postal services over time (the law hasn't been updated)

Therefore based on experience the judge only needs to see proof of posting.
Note a somewhat unscrupulous applicant could also claim serving by hand (but would need a witness to corroborate)
I wouldn't recommend that 

As far as I recall the form doesn't ask you "did you get a non delivery notice from the post office?"
So there is no place on the form for you declare such an event
So the question you really need to consider did you have something that you did attach to the Certifcate of Service that doesn't immediately say "I wasn't received at the other end" especially if the Tenant challenges the eviction?

I've always used hand delivery and Certificate of Posting for which there is no Tenant signature required.
Never been denied yet.

Hope that gives you some pointers, but as Bob says for your own sanity you might want to get a legal opinion (although that might cost more than just resetting and serving the notice by hand)

Best of luck

If the property is local you may want to post a copy direct through the letter box and take a photo with a copy of the days newspaper.  Good Luck.

Wow that angry landlord is one clever dude!

No really I mean it.

Seriously, all that effort and the bloke doesn't even reply!

No wonder our Riptide get so in your face about one post wonders!

Thanks though, I found it really interesting.

No really I did.

This is the down side of being a sarcastic dick, sometimes when you're genuine, even as you type it it doesn't sound that way!

Cheers AL ( my new name for Angry Landlord, as it shorter and reminiscent of the Angry Landlord Pub person)

Use the [sarcasm] [/sarcasm] tags if words aren't enough to give people a clue regarding your intentions.