Service on date of posting

C A Webber (Transport) Ltd v Railtrack plc (CA TLR 5 August)

Where a landlord serves a notice under s25 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 by sending it through the post by recorded delivery to the addressee at his place of abode, it is irrebuttably deemed to have been served on the date when it was posted on the basis of s23(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, which was not modified by s7 of the Limitation Act 1978. It did not matter when the notice was received. The risk of non-receipt was cast on the recipient. The date of service was the date when the server entrusted the notice to the post for recorded delivery. That gave certainty to those required to serve documents.