Part III

Miscellaneous and General

Service of documents.
54
1
Any document required or authorised to be served on any person under this Act may be served—
a
by delivering it to him or by leaving it at his proper address or by sending it by post to him at that address, or
b
if the person is a body corporate, by serving it in accordance with paragraph (a) above on the secretary of that body, or
c
if the person is a partnership, by serving it in accordance with paragraph (a) above on a partner or a person having control or management of the partnership business.
2
For the purposes of this section and section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 (which relates to the service of documents by post) in its application to this section, the proper address of any person on whom a document is to be served shall be his last known address, except that—
a
in the case of service on a body corporate or its secretary, it shall be the address of the registered or principal office of the body;
b
in the case of service on a partnership or a partner or a person having the control or management of a partnership business, it shall be the address of the principal office of the partnership;
and for the purposes of this subsection the principal office of a company registered outside the United Kingdom or of a partnership carrying on business outside the United Kingdom is its principal office within the United Kingdom.
3
If a person to be served under this Act with any document by another has specified to that other an address within the United Kingdom other than his proper address (as determined under subsection (2) above) as the one at which he or someone on his behalf will accept documents of the same description as that document, that address shall also be treated as his proper address for the purposes of this section and for the purposes of section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 in its application to this section.
4
Where a document is required or authorised to be served under this Act on a person in his capacity as the owner of an interest in, or occupier of, any land and his name or address cannot be ascertained after reasonable enquiry, the document may be served by addressing it to him by name or by the description of “owner” or “occupier”, as the case may be, of the land and—
a
leaving it with a person who is, or appears to be, resident or employed on the land, or
b
leaving it conspicuously affixed to some building or object on or near the land.
5
In this section “secretary”, in relation to a local authority within the meaning of the Local Government Act 1972, means the proper officer within the meaning of that Act.
S. 54 applied (with modifications) (19.2.1999) by S.I. 1999/537, art. 13(1), Sch. 3 para. 1-8
S. 54 applied (with modifications) (22.3.2001) by S.I. 2001/1451, art. 15(1), Sch. 3 para. 1(a)
S. 54 applied (12.8.2002) by S.I. 2002/1943, art. 15(4)
1978 c. 30.
1978 c. 30.
1972 c. 70.