Marath and another v MacGillivray (1996)

Adequate notice of the landlords’ intention to commence possession proceedings was given, even though the s. 8 notice was not compliant with statutory requirements. The tenant of a flat in London had a shorthold tenancy of six months from January 1994. In March 1995 the landlords, who lived in Florida, obtained a possession order. The order was made on the grounds of more than three moths rent arrears and a breach of a clause of the tenancy agreement (failure to repair and/or to occupy in a careful and tenant-like manner). The tenant appealed, on three grounds: –    whether a valid notice under s. 8 Housing Act 1988 had been served on the tenant, in the prescribed form, informing him of the landlords’ intention to take possession proceedings on the grounds of three months rent arrears; –    whether the tenant had been served with a valid notice under s. 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, providing him with the landlords’ address in England or Wales for the service of notices, and –    whether the landlords were estopped from relying on  the rent arrears as a ground for the possession order.