Can my student daughter now give 2 months notice and end her tenancy?

knightstyle

This was discussed on Call You and Yours. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002v9d2

HillStreetBlues

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81978388#Comment_81978388

If the LL gives an email address, even if stated that address shouldn't be used for serving of notices that email address can be used as the LL can't dictate what method to use.

_Penny_Dreadful

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81978607#Comment_81978607

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 widens what counts as “writing” (and email clearly falls within that), but the Act itself doesn’t say that a landlord must provide an email address for the service of notices. That’s the key difference compared with the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, which does explicitly require a landlord to provide an address in England or Wales for service.

So if no email address has been provided or agreed for notices, there’s nothing in the legislation that magically turns a general contact email into a valid address for service. That isn’t contractual override, it’s simply the absence of a statutory requirement.

And service has to work both ways. If email were valid by default, both parties would still need certainty about which email addresses are to be used for notices, landlord and tenant. Without that clarity, you’ve got inevitable disputes about whether notice was properly served at all.

That’s why the new NRLA APT template explicitly records the landlord’s, agent’s and tenant’s email addresses for service, leaving no ambiguity for those landlord who do want to be able to send and receive notices by email.

If the landlord wants to issue a Section 8 after 1st May would it be acceptable to send it to some contact email address that he might have somewhere or would you expect it to be served as per the terms of the original agreement? I’d suspect the latter.

HillStreetBlues

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81978699#Comment_81978699

You seem to have expanded the range, I haven't seen anyone (including me) state the LL has to supply an email address, so unsure where you have got that from.

EDIT on the last part about Section 8, that can be served via email only if it's an agreed method.
They are separate parts of the law, so what's right for one doesn't mean it's right for the other.

_Penny_Dreadful

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81978734#Comment_81978734

No one is saying a landlord must supply an email address. The point is that if no email address is supplied or agreed for service, email isn’t a valid method to use. That doesn’t override the Act because the Act doesn’t require an email address to be provided in the first place.

Saying “email is an example of writing” does not mean a landlord is obliged to accept notice by email, any more than it means notice can be taped to a pigeon. Form and service are different things.

Your own Section 8 edit actually proves the point: email works only if it’s an agreed method of service. That principle doesn’t magically stop applying just because it’s a different notice. Service has to be certain and symmetrical, both parties must know which address is valid.

At this point we’re just going in circles, so I’ll leave it there.

HillStreetBlues

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81978842#Comment_81978842

As I stated in the edit, they are separate areas of the law, so mixing them up proves nothing, and just leads to the wrong conclusion. The fact they are written differently in law. If they were meant to be the same they would be mirror images of each other, they are not.

The LL process of ending the tenancy is completely different to a tenant ending it, LL is much more formal and needs the correct form, if a person understands that, then that person can understand that the method of informing the other party can be different also.

TroubledTarts

I think you will be late serving notice unless you hand deliver it to the landlord or letting agent on 1st May.

Take along a pre printed received letter and signed for and dated letter.

beth01dog

This is what was on gov.uk. It appears to say email counts as a written form of communication.

_Penny_Dreadful

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81979510#Comment_81979510

Yes, agreed, gov.uk says email counts as a written form of communication. I’m not disputing that.

What it doesn’t say is that email is automatically a valid method of serving notice. Service depends on what’s set out in the tenancy agreement (or what’s been expressly agreed). If email hasn’t been specified or agreed as a method for notices, then using it is risky regardless of it being “in writing”.

That’s the distinction I’m trying to make.

saajan_12

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81978162#Comment_81978162

Gosh much debate about the details of service, but the bigger issue is really this ^ if its a joint and several tenancy then either they all leave or the full rent continues to be payable.

If one of them serves notice, then the tenancy ends, but then if some tenants remain, they could be liable for the full rent for the property or even double rent as mesne profits. Depending on what was agreed between the students, they may be able to claim any extra costs from those who gave notice, if the original agreement was to keep the house over the summer and each pay a share.

I would proceed very carefully and agree with the others first.