So you are well versed in serving 14 day notice to remedy a breach and 90 day notice to terminate but when do you start counting down the 14 or 90 days?
S136 of the Residential Tenancies Act is instructive but getting your head around each of the wordy sub-sections is quite another matter. Follow
this quick and easy guide so that you can continue managing your tenancies without unnecessary delays*.
Rule of thumb: The countdown of the notice period starts the day after the notice is legally considered as received
Note s136 prescribes delivery periods (i.e. service times) for each types of service. Unless the receiver of the notice can prove otherwise, the
law will presume that the notice is received at the expiry of the delivery period.
So, when do you start counting? Well it all depends on how the notice is served. Here are the four main ones:
| Personal service (i.e. hand delivery to your tenant) | Start counting 1 working day after |
| Delivery to a physical address for service (i.e. affixed to the front door or left in the on-site letterbox) | Start counting 2 working days after |
| By ordinary mail to letterbox (before 5pm on a working day) | Start counting 4 working days after |
| Fax or email (before 5pm on a working day) | Start counting 1 working day after |
