Part I: a valuable reminder of the requirements under sections 47 and 48 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987.

Any experienced landlord or managing agent of residential property will know that a valid rent and service charge demand must include the landlord's name and address in order for the monies to be payable. However, there is often a misunderstanding between the address requirements under section 47 and those under section 48 - you would be wrong to think they're the same.

Both sections require an address for the landlord but section 47 requires "the" address and section 48 requires "an" address. Sounds like semantics?

Not according to the Upper Tribunal. The use of the word "the" in section 47 and "an" in section 48 is an important distinction. Section 48 allows any address at which the landlord can be contacted (including the managing agent's address) but the address under section 47 is the address where the landlord is specifically to be found. That is likely to be the landlord's registered office or place of business, not the managing agent's office.

Invariably providing the landlord's registered office or place of business is unlikely to be of interest to the tenant who will be more concerned about having an address at which he can communicate with the landlord and ensure a response - normally the managing agent. Nonetheless, the requirements under section 47 are strict and managing agents in particular should avoid the trap of only stating their address on demands in the mistaken belief that they have complied with section 47.

In order to comply, managing agent's should ensure that the demand states:

the landlord's registered office or place of business in England or Wales; and
the managing agent's address in England or Wales where notices can be served.