Help me write a notice to quit for Jamaica tenant

QUESTION: Dear Legal Wiz,
I am new to this court business and notice to quit form. The man at the information desk says the court does not write notice to quit for the public. Yet they keep telling me the notices I write are wrong. Please help me with the notice to quit I am writing.
I usually get the dates mixed up.
Trey

RESPONSE: Dear Trey,
Please purchase at a book store. Once you have the pair of notice forms you are ready to fill it in.
Bear in mind that the form is just a paragraph with areas to be filled in by you.
Reading from the top of the form, the first date you are asked to fill in is the EXPIRATION DATE. To make it simple for you to fill in, please put the last day of the next rent month. This is the last day of the rent month. So if tenant pays rent on the 13th day, the expiration date is the 12th day of the month in which tenant should leave.
So if you want to give notice in January, the expiration date should be 12th of February, provided all other dates on the form are before or on January 13th.

So the next date on the form will be the DATE OF THE NOTICE, which is the date that you prepare the notice. This should be at least one full rent month before the EXPIRATION DATE.
So for the notice to expire February 13th, the date the notice must be prepared is January 13th or a few days before, so that the full month will be from January 13th to February 12th as the rent is due on the 13th of every month.
If January 13th is already gone, the date cannot be after January 13th or the expiration date will be affected and needs to be changed.

The third date should be placed where it says ‘SERVED’, although its not indicated. Usually to be on the safe side, this date is the same date that the notice is prepared that is DATE OF THE NOTICE. It should not be less than 30 days before the EXPIRATION DATE.

For the record, you can Download notice form to evict tenant here for free.

I hope this helps to clear your date confusion.
Legal Wiz
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EDITOR’S NOTES:
The above does not constitute legal advice. Inhouse senior journalists research and discuss with specialists eg attorneys-at-law, as necessary before posting responses. In conclusion, names are changed at times by request.

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