Key dates and notices

This article explains the dates a business lease turns on, the reminders Abodient gives you for them, and how to record a notice to or from your occupier. The 1954 Act, rent reviews and break clauses all run on strict dates. The example is Unit 3 Cordwainer Row, let to Pennyroyal Provisions Limited. Key dates and notices are on the Lease tab.

Key dates

Abodient works the dates out from the lease terms and lists them under Key dates.

• Next rent review, with the basis, such as open market.
• Break option: the break date, who can use it, and the last day to serve notice. Here only the occupier can break, on 29 September 2028, so notice must be served by 29 March 2028.
• Lease expiry. For a lease inside the 1954 Act, a line beneath it gives the Section 25 window: it opens 12 months before expiry and closes 6 months before. This lease is contracted out, so it has none.
• Insurance renewal. It shows Not set until you upload the buildings insurance on the Documents tab with its expiry date.

Change a date with Edit beside Key dates.

Reminders on your dashboard and in your Inbox

A Lease events card on your dashboard lists these dates across all your commercial units, soonest first. If you do not see it, add it from Configure.

The dates that cost money when missed also arrive in your Inbox, on the Tasks tab, tagged Lease.

• Rent review: appears 90 days before the review date.
• Break notice: appears 60 days before the last day you can give notice. That day is the break date less the notice period in the lease.
• Section 25 notice window: appears when the window opens and stays until it closes. Leases outside the 1954 Act never get one.
• Buildings insurance: appears 30 days before the policy on file expires.

A break reminder only appears when you can use the break. If only the occupier can, there is nothing for you to serve. If the lease gives no notice period, Abodient assumes six months and says so on the task.

Each task has a button that opens the lease, or the Documents tab for insurance. Press Mark done when you have dealt with it, and it will not come back. If you change a date, the old reminder closes and a new one appears once the new date is inside its lead time. These reminders show in the app only. We do not email them.

Record a notice

Notices run both ways between you and the occupier. Press + Serve or record a notice above the Notices list, then open the choice under What kind of notice is this?

There are eight types:

• Section 25 notice (landlord), Rent review notice, Section 146 notice (forfeiture), CRAR notice of enforcement and Schedule of dilapidations are yours to serve.
• Section 26 request (tenant) and Section 27 notice (tenant) are the occupier's.
• Break notice can come from either side.

Attach the notice, set the date it was served and how, and press the button at the bottom of the window. Abodient records the notice and its deadline, and shares a copy to the occupier's portal if they have joined it. That copy is a courtesy. You serve the notice yourself and keep your own proof. Abodient keeps the record, not the legal act of service.

The Notices list then shows the notice as Served, with the date and either in occupier's portal or not shared. In the picture the rent review notice reads not shared although Pennyroyal is on the portal, because it was recorded on 16 September without a copy going to the portal. A notice recorded now would be shared to a joined occupier, except one the occupier serves, which is a record only.

📱 Mobile screenshot coming soon

If something's not right

• No break reminder. Check who can use the break in the lease, and that the break date is filled in.
• No insurance reminder. Upload the buildings insurance on the Documents tab and set its expiry date.
• Nothing yet for a date you know about. Reminders open at the lead times above, not before.
• The notice says not shared. No copy reached the portal. It was recorded before the occupier joined, or it is a notice they serve. Send your copy another way.