What should I do if I am served with an abatement notice under section 80 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990

23 February 2026

We are often instructed by people who have been served with an abatement notice in relation to an alleged statutory nuisance at their property. Such a notice will generally inform the recipient that the local authority believes there is a statutory nuisance emanating from the property/site and requiring the recipient to abate it.

Sometimes our clients have already lodged an appeal against the notice, and sometimes not. Clients regularly tell us that, while they are aware that they have a right to appeal the notice, they have had difficulty understanding what they can do to appeal a notice, whether they should appeal the notice, and most importantly how they can appeal the notice.

The most important thing to do is to act quickly

An abatement notice is a serious legal procedure which may have criminal consequences. If the abatement notice is not appealed, it continues in perpetuity against the person who receives it. A breach of an abatement notice is a criminal offence under s 80(4), EPA. If the local authority considers that the abatement notice is breached after the stated compliance period, then they may bring a criminal prosecution in the Magistrates’ Court. If convicted of the alleged offence – a breach of the abatement notice – the recipient of the notice will receive a criminal conviction and will be subject to an unlimited fine.

A recipient of a notice has a right to appeal it under s 80(3), EPA. That right must be set out within the notice but may not provide the recipient with clarity about the consequences of not appealing, or the way in which they can bring an appeal.

An appeal is heard by the Magistrates’ Court in its civil (not criminal) jurisdiction. A civil appeal is started by way of a “complaint” to the Magistrates’ Court. Under Rule 4 of the Magistrates Courts Rules 1981 (“1981 Rules”), a complaint must be made in accordance with Form 98 of the Magistrates’ Courts (Forms) Rules 1981 by writing to the relevant court with the following information: date, name and address of the complainant (yourself) and the person who issued the abatement notice (the local authority), short particulars of the matter i.e. setting out what you are appealing, and the relevant legislation (the EPA).

The Regulations

Appeals against abatement notices are governed by the Statutory Nuisance (Appeals) Regulations 1995 (“the Regulations”). The Regulations set out the grounds on which an appeal can be made. The main ones are:

that the abatement notice is not justified – i.e. that there is not a nuisance (reg 2(2)(a)); and
that the land is being used for industrial, trade, or business purposes, and that “best practicable means” are used to prevent, or to counteract the effects of, the nuisance (reg 2(2)(e));

There are also more technical grounds available:

that there has been an informality, defect or error (reg 2(2)(b));
that the local authority should have accepted compliance with alternative requirements, or that the requirements of the notice are unreasonable or unnecessary (reg 2(2)(c));
that the period of compliance is not reasonably sufficient (reg 2(2)(d));
that the requirements in the abatement notice are more onerous than the requirements of a notice, for the same activity, issued under the Control of Pollution Act 1974 (reg 2(2)(f));
that, in the case of a noise nuisance emitted from or caused by a vehicle, machinery or equipment, the requirements imposed by the abatement notice are more onerous than the requirements of a consent given under the Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act 1993 (reg 2(2)(g));
that the abatement notice should have been served on someone else (reg 2(2)(h) and (reg 2(2)(i)).
That the abatement notice should have been served on someone else in addition to the recipient of the abatement notice (reg 2(2)(j));

There is no requirement to set out in detail the grounds of the appeal at the outset. The grounds of an appeal can be supplemented and amended up to the date of a hearing of the appeal.

Timeline for the Appeal

The Magistrates’ Court has no jurisdiction to extend the time for an appeal. If you fail to appeal in time, the notice cannot be appealed, and it will continue to operate indefinitely unless the local authority agrees to withdraw it. So, it is very important to appeal “in time”.

The appeal must be made within 21 days beginning with the date of service of the notice (s 80(3), EPA). The date of service is counted as “day 1”, the day after “day 2”, and so on. So, if you are served with an abatement notice on 1 April, you need to appeal by the end of 21 April.

The date of service isn’t necessarily the date written on the notice (which is the date of issue). Service of abatement notices is covered by s 160, EPA which provides that notices can be served by:

delivering it to the person (i.e. personal service by hand-delivery);
leaving it at the person’s proper address; or
sending it by post to the person’s proper address.

A person’s “proper address” is defined by s 160 as a person’s last known address, or in the case of a company, their registered office. In the case of a notice relating to statutory nuisance coming from a property, there is unlikely to be an issue that the property in question is the proper address.

If the notice is personally served on the recipient (i.e. hand-delivered) or left at the address by the local authority, then that date is the date of service – and that day will be Day 1 of the notice period.

If the notice is delivered by post (which is a common method), then the notice is deemed to have been served (by s 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978) on the day that it would be delivered “in the ordinary course of post”, “unless the contrary is proved”. For first-class post, that is generally accepted to be the second business day after the letter was posted, unless you can demonstrate with evidence that it was served later. So, if the letter was posted on 1 April, it is deemed to have been served on 3 April (Day 1), 4 April will be Day 2, and you must appeal by 23 April.

If the last day of the notice period falls on a weekend (or another day on which the courts are closed), then there may be an argument that the last day for lodging an appeal falls on the next day that the courts are open – but that is not settled law and we would not recommend waiting until then.

Where to Appeal?

It is important to identify the correct Magistrates’ Court to appeal to. It may not be the Court that is closest to you (especially if you live in or near London), rather it will be the Magistrates’ Court that deals with regulatory matters for your local authority. You can find this information by searching your local authority’s postcode (it should be on the Notice) here: https://www.find-court-tribunal.service.gov.uk/. If in doubt, you can write to both your closest Magistrates’ Court and the Court that is closest to your local authority at the same time. The courts’ call centres are generally unable to assist you to find the right Court, but the department that served you with the notice may be able to point you in the right direction.

There is a small court fee to pay to lodge your appeal (it should be £68), but in general lodging an appeal before taking formal legal advice will not result in liability to the Council for legal costs. If your appeal is ultimately unsuccessful, you are likely to be ordered to pay the Council’s reasonable legal costs in defending your appeal, but if you promptly take legal advice after lodging your appeal and are advised that you do not have good grounds for the appeal and that you should withdraw it (and you follow that advice) then you can expect not to be ordered to pay the Council’s legal costs.

While we understand the desire not to commence formal legal proceedings, and the generally held belief that common sense may prevail, we would not recommend spending time asking the local authority to withdraw the notice without lodging an appeal. Issuing an abatement notice is a serious legal step that ought to have been well-thought out internally by the local authority before issuing the notice – you contacting them and explaining the position is unlikely to change their mind, and doing so may mean that you use up the appeal period.

What can we do?

We are able to advise you on appeals against abatement notices at any stage of the procedure, but it is always preferable to contact a solicitor as soon as you receive a notice so that you can ensure that you are doing everything possible to protect your position. It is sometimes possible that notices will contain procedural errors that the local authority will recognise on receipt of a solicitors’ letter and agree to withdraw the notice without you needing to appeal it. If you have received a notice and want to know about your options, please contact one of our specialist team for advice either by email (law@richardbuxton.co.uk) or phone (01223 328933).

Every case is different, and we cannot hope to cover every possible scenario in a general guidance note. We hope that the above provides some helpful guidance if you have received an abatement notice, but it is only an overview of the process and is not intended to provide legal advice and should not be relied upon as such.