Provisions the documents cite: s.7 (service by post: how it is effected and when it is deemed effected), s.22(1) (application to Acts passed after the Act came into force), s.23(1) (application to subordinate legislation), s.24(1) (Northern Ireland), s.26 (commencement, 1 January 1979)
What it requires
Where an Act authorises or requires any document to be served by post — whether the expression used is "serve", "give", "send" or any other — then, unless the contrary intention appears, service is deemed to be effected by properly addressing, pre-paying and posting a letter containing the document and, unless the contrary is proved, to have been effected at the time at which the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post (s.7). The Act applies to itself and to any Act passed after it came into force on 1 January 1979, and to earlier Acts only to the extent specified in Part I of Schedule 2 (ss.22(1), 26); except ss.1–3 and 4(b), it applies so far as applicable and unless the contrary intention appears to subordinate legislation made after that date (s.23(1)). The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 was passed after 1979, so s.7 applies to a notice sent by post under its s.15(1)(b) (register entry party-wall-1996): a notice properly addressed, pre-paid and posted is served, and is treated as served when it would be delivered in the ordinary course of post unless the contrary is proved. REASONING from the two texts — the 1996 Act's notice periods ("at least one month" or "at least two months" before the work is to start) therefore run from that deemed delivery, not from the day of posting, so a posted notice needs the posting time added. s.7 deals only with service by post: it gives no deemed time for a notice served by electronic communication under s.15(1A) of the 1996 Act, nor for delivery in person or at the premises under s.15(1)(a) or (2), and neither Act, as read, says when an emailed notice is treated as served. Neither Act says how many days the ordinary course of post takes, and no figure is held in this register. Extent: England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as shown at legislation.gov.uk; the Act extends to Northern Ireland so far as it applies to Acts or subordinate legislation which so extend (s.24(1)).
The instrument itself: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1978/30/section/7. The summary above is our plain-English reading, not the text of the instrument — always work from the source.
How this entry is kept current
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The 1 document that cite it
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