Planning and Development Act 2024

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Service of documents

396. (1) An order, notice, warning letter or other document or information that is required or authorised to be served on a person by or under this Act shall be in writing, addressed to him or her and served on him or her in one or more than one of the following ways:

(a) by delivering it to that person;

(b) subject to subsection (2), by electronic communication;

(c) by leaving it at the address at which that person ordinarily resides or any alternative contact address provided by or on behalf of him or her;

(d) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter addressed to that person at the address at which he or she ordinarily resides or any alternative contact address provided by or on behalf of him or her;

(e) where service in accordance with paragraph (d) is unsuccessful and the person serving the order, notice, warning letter or other document or information is satisfied that the person to be served is residing at or in occupation of the address to which the prepaid registered letter was sent, by sending it by post in a prepaid ordinary letter addressed to that person at that address;

(f) where the address at which that person ordinarily resides cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry and the order, notice, warning letter or other document or information is required or authorised to be served in respect of any land or structure, by delivering it to a person over the age of 16 years resident or employed on the land or structure or by affixing it in a conspicuous place on or near the land or structure;

(g) in the case of an enforcement notice (within the meaning of Part 11), by delivering it to a person over the age of 16 years who is employed, or otherwise engaged, in connection with the carrying out of the development to which the notice relates, or by affixing it in a conspicuous place on the land or structure concerned;

(h) where the order, notice, warning letter or other document or information relates to a maritime site, and the address at which the person ordinarily resides cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry, by publishing it in a national newspaper on 7 consecutive days.

(2) Service shall be effected in accordance with paragraph (b) of subsection (1) where—

(a) the electronic communication is sent to—

(i) an email address or other electronic contact point provided by or on behalf of the person to be served, or

(ii) an email address or other electronic contact point published or otherwise communicated to the public by the person to be served,

(b) the person serving the order, notice, warning letter or other document or information has not within a reasonable time thereafter received reliable evidence that the electronic communication has not been delivered to the email address or other electronic contact point concerned, and

(c) the order, notice, warning letter or other document or information is in a form that is accessible by means of technology to which it is reasonable to expect the person to be served has access.

(3) The Minister may prescribe requirements additional to those in subsection (2) for electronic communication for the purposes of this section.

(4) Where an order, notice, warning letter or other document or information is required or authorised by or under this Act to be served on the owner or occupier of any land, maritime site or structure and the name of the owner or occupier cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry, it may be addressed to “the owner” or “the occupier”, as the case may require, without naming him or her.

(5) For the purposes of this section, a company registered under the Companies Act 2014 , shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business, or at any address provided or published by it for the purpose of receiving communications.

(6) In this section “serve” or “serve on” includes “give” and “notify” or “give to” and “notify to”.