HMLR has updated PG8 (execution of deeds). Section 10.5 has been amended to remove out-of-date practice. Following a review, HMLR will no longer raise a requisition when ‘signed as a deed’ is used in the execution of a prescribed deed by a corporate body. In addition, section 5.2 has been amended to remove reference to …
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Sentencing – drugs; leading role
April 2024 | CrimeD appealed a concurrent sentence totalling 12.5 years for offers to supply cocaine and cannabis, and for the supply of heroin. The judge took the cocaine offences as the lead offence. On appeal, D argued that 18 years before reduction for his guilty plea was manifestly excessive on the basis that his role was significant …
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HMLR – PG6
April 2024 | ConveyancingHMLR has updated PG6 (devolution on death of a registered proprietor). The guide has been amended to provide more information about HMLR’s requirements for the grant of representation for a deceased owner, and its practice when registering a personal representative pursuant to a grant ad colligenda bona or a disposition by such a personal representative. …
PIF (TA6) – updated
April 2024 | ConveyancingThe Law Society has created a stir by issuing an updated Property Information Form (5th ed) which includes the information the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team says should be disclosed on property listings in its material information in property listings (sales) guidance. There are a lot of changes to the form and …
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Wills – capacity
April 2024 | Wills, probate and administrationT’s will limiting pecuniary legacies to his five granddaughters to a nominal sum was ‘entirely rational’, the HC ruled. T made the will in 2018 leaving the bulk of his £500,000 estate to his two surviving children, with £50 legacies to the claimants (they were the children of his deceased son). A previous will, made …
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Criminal damage – protests
April 2024 | CrimeIn the context of protests, the circumstances surrounding criminal damage must have a necessary proximity to the damage for an offence to be made out. S5(2)(a) Criminal Damage Act 1971 defines when a person is to be treated as ‘having lawful excuse’ for criminal damage or destroying property. An appeal ruling followed an AG’s reference …
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BSA – FAQs
April 2024 | ConveyancingThe Building Safety Act 2022 continues to be complex and cause issues in practice. Conveyancers might like to note that RICS has published some FAQs on the Act. While they are of course skewed to surveyors, there is a lot in them that conveyancers will find helpful. See www.rics.org/news-insights/building-safety-act-faqs.
HMLR – PG21
April 2024 | ConveyancingHMLR has updated PG21 (using forms for complex and more unusual transactions). Section 11.1 has been amended to clarify that deputies should contact the Office of the Public Guardian in situations where there may be a conflict of interest and now reads: ‘11.1 Dispositions on behalf of a person lacking capacity A deputy appointed by …
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HMLR – PG19
April 2024 | ConveyancingHMLR has updated PG19 (notices and restrictions). Section 3.9.1 has been amended to clarify that, where the consent or certificate of a specified person is required under the terms of a restriction in the register, and where that person cannot be traced, HMLR needs to see evidence of the steps undertaken to obtain the relevant …
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Building regulations – enforcement
April 2024 | ConveyancingConveyancers have long been used to the enforcement period of one year for lack of building regulations. In essence, if building work contravenes the building regulations, the building control authority cannot take enforcement proceedings if more than a year has elapsed since the work was completed. In such circumstances, the conveyancer acting for the buyer …
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