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Court of Appeal (England and Wales) curbs technical tenancy deposit claims: reasonable recipient approach; covering letter validates unsigned prescribed information (Lowe v Governors of Sutton’s Hospital in Charterhouse)

Published on: 04 August 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Property Disputes expert
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Article summary

Lowe v The Governors of Sutton’s Hospital In Charterhouse [2025] EWCA Civ 857

What are the practical implications of this case?

The tenancy deposit regime is not elegantly drafted and has prompted a wave of technical litigation. This judgment offers useful clarity on how courts approach imperfect landlord compliance:

  • A prescribed information certificate containing an inaccuracy should be interpreted as any statutory notice. If a reasonable recipient would grasp the correct details from it, the legislative requirements are treated as satisfied.
  • The absence of a signature on the prescribed information certificate did not invalidate it. Here, the certificate was sent with a covering letter signed by the landlord’s agent; read together, the latter authenticated the former for the purposes of the statutory scheme.

What was the background?

In January 2010, C entered a contractual fixed-term tenancy of a residential flat within the Charterhouse complex in central London, paying a £3,300 deposit at the outset. Owing to an alteration in the statutory limit to the...

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Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...

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I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...

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