Prove every notice was received.

A Section 13 increase can take effect once every 52 weeks. A notice that never took effect can be served again. You lose the two months’ notice — and longer if nobody spots the defect until the tribunal. That is why the record of service matters more than the form.

Filling the form is the easy part. Abide.Rent fills in the official GOV.UK Form 4A — and Form 3A for a Section 8 notice — from the property file, so names, dates and the address match. What matters is whether you can still show it was served a year later.

What you can still show later

An email that you pressed send is not proof the tenant received it. A PDF in a tenancy folder is not either. We keep how you sent it and the evidence that goes with the method — a tracking number for Signed For or courier, a certificate of posting for first class, or who handed it over, with a witness and photo, for hand delivery — added later if proof arrives later; whether the email was reported as opened, and when the tenant confirmed after signing in. Each party keeps that copy. You cannot rebuild it from an inbox search after the agent has gone.

An “opened” report is a signal, not proof. Some email programs block it and others trigger it automatically. The tenant’s own confirmation is the stronger record.

A person sends the notice. We do not send it for you, and a computer cannot send it on its own. The product is the record of that day — not another PDF.

What stays with you

You are still responsible for any notice you send. Check the form against the current GOV.UK version before you serve it for real. Nothing here is legal advice.

Once it is served, the agent, the landlord and the tenant each keep a copy of the record. We do not take anyone’s copy away if the account changes hands or a payment fails.