Consultation Paper on the General Law of the Landlord and Tenant

CHAPTER 13NOTICE13.01 Service of a notice to quit, by either the landlord on thetenant or the tenant on the landlord, is the standard method ofterminating a periodic tenancy. 1 Until such a notice is served theperiodic tenancy will continue to run from period to period (week toweek, month to month, year to year or whatever are the successiveperiods) indefinitely. No such notice is required in the case of atenancy for a fixed term, since it will end automatically, by naturalexpiration, at the end of the term in question. 2 That is not to say thattermination by notice never applies in the case of a fixed termtenancy, because it is common, particularly in commercial leases, tohave a “break” option, whereby the tenant may terminate the tenancyearly. 3 Similarly the landlord may have an option to terminate thetenancy early, such as a “put” or “call” option requiring the tenant tobuy out the landlord’s interest or to surrender the tenancy to thelandlord. 4 Exercise of such options usually involves service of anotice on the other party.13.02 The requirements for service of a notice in relation toexercise of an option, such as a break option, are usually set out in thelease conferring the option. Since they are essentially a matter ofcontract, dependant upon the agreement of the parties in the particularcase, there is little or no place for statutory regulation. What thischapter is concerned with, therefore, is notices to quit designed toterminate periodic tenancies. Since many, if not most, such tenanciesarise without any lease or other written document being entered into, 5the requirements concerning service of notices to quit are largely12345See Wylie Irish Landlord and Tenant Law (2 nd ed 1998) Chapter 23.Ibid paragraph 26.01.Ibid paragraph 20.14.Ibid paragraph 20.16.They often arise by implication: see Wylie op cit paragraph 4.13.157