Section 38 Services of notices.

England and Wales

(1)

Subject to the provisions of this section, any notice or other document required or authorised to be served or given under Part III F1... of this Act may be served or given either—

(a)

by delivering it to the person on whom it is to be served or to whom it is to be given; or

(b)

by leaving it at the usual or last known place of abode of that person, or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished by that person, at that address; or

C1(c)

by sending it in a pre-paid registered letter addressed to that person at his usual or last known place of abode, or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished by that person, at that address; or

(d)

in the case of an incorporated company or body, by delivering it to the secretary or clerk of the company or body at their registered or principal office, or sending it in a pre-paid registered letter addressed to the secretary or clerk of the company or body at that office.

(2)

Where the notice or document is required or authorised to be served on any person as having an interest in premises, and the name of that person cannot be ascertained after reasonable inquiry, the notice shall be deemed to be duly served if—

(a)

being addressed to him either by name or by the description of “the owner” of the premises (describing them) it is delivered or sent in the manner mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of subsection (1) of this section; or

(b)

being addressed as aforesaid and marked in the manner for the time being prescribed by regulations under F2the M1Town and Country Planning Act 1971, for securing that notices thereunder are plainly identifiable as a communication of importance, it is sent in a pre-paid registered letter to the premises and is not returned to the authority sending it, or is delivered to some person on those premises or is affixed conspicuously to some object on those premises.

F3(3)

Any communication required or authorised to be sent to a person under this Act may be sent to an email address or uploaded to a website at which the person has agreed in writing to receive communications for the purposes of the claim for compensation.

(4)

Any communication required or authorised under this Act to be sent to—

(a)

an acquiring authority,

(b)

a confirming authority, or

(c)

a local planning authority,

may also be sent electronically by a method mentioned in subsection (5).

(5)

The methods are—

(a)

sending the communication to an appropriate email address, or

(b)

uploading the communication to an appropriate website.

(6)

For the purposes of subsection (5)—

(a)

an email address or website is an appropriate one if the person to whom the communication is to be sent has—

(i)

provided the email address or details of the website to the sender for the purposes of communicating with them about the claim for compensation, or

(ii)

published the fact that the email address or the website may be used for those purposes;

(b)

an email address is also an appropriate one if the person to whom the communication is to be sent has previously used it for the purposes of communicating with the sender about the claim for compensation.

(7)

A communication sent electronically is, unless the contrary is proved, to be treated as having been received on the working day immediately following the day on which it was sent.

(8)

In this section—

“confirming authority” has the same meaning as in Schedule 2A (see paragraph 9 of that Schedule);
“working day” means a day other than a Saturday, a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 in England and Wales.

(9)

This section does not apply to a communication required or authorised to be sent under this Act to the Upper Tribunal.

Annotations

Textual amendments

F1: Words in s. 38(1) omitted (22.9.2017) by virtue of Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 (c. 20), ss. 33(2), 46(1); S.I. 2017/936, reg. 3(c)
F2: Words substituted by virtue of Town and Country Planning Act 1971 (c. 78), Sch. 24 para. 2
F3: S. 38(3)-(9) inserted (18.2.2026) by Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (c. 34), ss. 105(2), 118(5)(a) (with s. 116)

Marginal citations

M1: 1971 c. 78.

Modifications

C1: References to registered letter to be construed as including references to letter sent by recorded delivery service: Recorded Delivery Service Act 1962 (c. 27), s. 1(1)(2), Sch. para. 1