N12 Notice Period: How to Count the 60 Days

The two rules

An N12 for your own use, or a family member's, has to meet two tests at once.

1. The termination date is at least 60 days after the notice is given.
2. The termination date is the last day of a rental period. For a monthly tenancy that is the day before rent is due. On a fixed-term lease it cannot be earlier than the last day of the term.

The date you write on the form is the first date that passes both. Day 60 usually does not, so you roll forward to the next period end.

How to count

1. Find the day the notice counts as given. By hand it is the day you hand it over. By mail it is 5 days after you mail it.
2. Do not count that day. Day one is the next day.
3. Count 60 days. That is the earliest possible date.
4. Move forward to the last day of the rental period. That is your termination date.

Worked examples

Rent is due on the 1st, so every rental period ends on the last day of a month.

Rows one and two show mail costing nothing: day 60 is Dec 19 by hand and Dec 24 by mail, and both fall in December, so both land on Dec 31. Rows three and four are the trap. Handed over on Oct 31, day 60 is Dec 30, so the date is Dec 31. Mailed the same day, the notice counts as given on Nov 5, day 60 is Jan 4, and the date jumps to Jan 31.

The 120-day option

Since September 21, 2026, a landlord's-own-use N12 with at least 120 days notice does not owe the tenant a month of rent as compensation. The same period-end rule applies, which is why the last two rows above sit a month apart. A purchaser's-use N12 owes the month whatever the length. The rest of the N12 rules are in the full N12 guide.

Different rent day

Rent due on the 15th means periods run from the 15th to the 14th, so the termination date is a 14th. The method is the same: count 60 days from the day after the notice is given, then move forward to the next 14th.

Frequently asked questions

Related resources