Notice to Quit

What this document contains

5 clauses every notice to quit carries, plus 5 you can add.

1. 01

   Who the notice is from and to

   The head of the notice: the place and date it bears, who it issues from, and everyone it is addressed to. Recipients are entered here rather than through the party picker — a notice is served on its recipients, not agreed with them, and the Sender is its only signatory.

2. 02

   Subject

   The one line a recipient reads first, and the line the notice is later found by in a file. Written by the Sender rather than composed from the facts — those live on other clauses, and a clause cannot read another clause's data.

3. 03

   The tenancy

   What is let, to whom, since when, and on what terms. The premises must be described well enough that a court could identify them from the notice alone — a vague description is the commonest defect in a notice to quit.

4. 04

   Determination of the tenancy

   The operative paragraph: the tenancy is determined and possession is called for. The period forks — where s. 106 governs, fifteen days from receipt is fixed by statute and is not the Sender's to vary; where the lease has its own notice clause, that clause governs and the period is whatever it says.

5. 05

   Delivery of possession

   The call to hand the premises back, and where the keys are to go. Separate from the determination paragraph because they are two different things: the tenancy ends by the notice, and possession is delivered afterwards.

Optional clauses

• Why the tenancy is being ended

  The Sender's reason for determining the tenancy, in the Sender's own words. Optional: a tenancy outside a Rent Act may be determined by notice without any reason at all, and requiring one where none is needed would invent an obligation. Where a Rent Act applies the position is the opposite — the ground is everything — which is why the guidelines say so.

  Worth adding when: the sender has a particular reason for ending the tenancy

• Rent and other amounts outstanding

  Rent and other amounts owing up to the date of the notice. Optional, because a great many notices to quit are given where nothing at all is in arrears.

  Worth adding when: rent or other amounts are outstanding

• What the Sender intends if this notice is not complied with

  The paragraph a notice conventionally ends with, in which the Sender says what they intend if it is not complied with. Optional, and never added automatically: whether to say anything at all is the Sender's decision. Where the Sender has words of their own they are used verbatim; where they have none, a neutral closing sentence is rendered that names no remedy and predicts no outcome.

  Worth adding when: the sender has said what they intend to do if the notice is not complied with

• Enclosures

  The documents sent with the notice. Optional, because many notices enclose nothing.

  Worth adding when: the sender is sending documents along with the notice

• Custom Clause

  A free-form clause for bespoke provisions not covered by standard clauses. Use clauseId 'custom-clause-1', 'custom-clause-2', etc. to add multiple. The LLM provides clauseTitle and clauseBody. Use the sequence parameter to control placement.

What the law requires

Rent Control Acts override s. 106

Where a State Rent Control Act applies, it prevails over s. 106 to the extent of any conflict. Such Acts generally list the grounds on which possession may be recovered, prescribe their own notice requirements, and give jurisdiction to a Rent Controller. A tenancy governed by one of them is usually not determinable by a bare notice under s. 106: the landlord must make out a statutory ground, and possession is ordered rather than taken.

The applicable State Rent Control Act; Transfer of Property Act 1882, s. 106 (subject to local law)

When a period begins to run

A period running from receipt and a period running from the date of the notice count different things. Where a document is sent by post, service is deemed to be effected at the time the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post, unless the contrary is proved.

General Clauses Act 1897, s. 27

Stamp duty

The Indian Stamp Act charges the instruments listed in its Schedule. A notice is not among them: it creates no right, transfers no property and records no bargain.

Indian Stamp Act 1899, s. 3 and Sch. I

What s. 106 provides

In the absence of a contract, local law or usage to the contrary, a lease of immovable property for a purpose other than agricultural or manufacturing is deemed to be a lease from month to month, terminable on the part of either lessor or lessee by fifteen days' notice. Since the 2002 amendment the period commences from the date of receipt of the notice, and a notice is not invalid merely because the period stated is short, where the suit or proceeding gives the tenant sufficient time.

Transfer of Property Act 1882, s. 106

A contract displaces the default

s. 106 supplies a default and nothing more. Where the lease itself states how much notice is required, that provision governs and the statutory fifteen days does not apply.

Transfer of Property Act 1882, s. 106 ("in the absence of a contract")

No reason is required outside a Rent Act

A tenancy that falls outside a Rent Control Act may be determined by notice without the landlord giving any reason. Inside one, the position is reversed: the ground is the whole case, and possession may be recovered only on a ground the Act lists.

Transfer of Property Act 1882, s. 106; the applicable State Rent Control Act

Notice ends the tenancy; it does not obtain possession

A determined tenancy does not entitle the landlord to take possession. A person in settled possession may be dispossessed only in due course of law, and a tenant who stays on after the notice expires is removed by a decree, not by the notice.

Specific Relief Act 1963, s. 6