Q. We are a letting agency – can we sign a section 21 notice on behalf of our landlord clients?

A. Yes certainly, and this is something letting agents often do as part of their service for their landlords.

Challenges have sometimes been made where the letting agency is a limited company and the signature was not done in accordance with the rules in the Companies Act.

These rules provide that documents must be signed:
• By two authorised signatories, or
• By a director of the company in the presence of a witness who attests the signature.

‘Authorised signatories;’ means:
• A director of the company, and
• In the case of a private company with a secretary or a public company,the secretary (or any joint secretary) of the company.

However, in a recent case, Northwood v. Fearn in 2022, the Court of Appeal held that where the document is a section 8 notice or a prescribed information certificate, then the document can be signed by an agent on behalf of the landlord and the strict rules do not have to be complied with.