The Practical Lawyer

The LR has updated PG 67 (evidence of identity – conveyancers):

The 3rd edition of the Standard Commercial Property Conditions sets out various special conditions. There are eight new special conditions – two of which are compulsory (unless they are struck out) with the remaining six being optional (ie they must be ticked).

All would agree that clarification is urgently needed from the CA on liability for conveyancer fraud (typically, when a fraudster sells a property belonging to someone else).

A document (which called itself a ‘lease’) granted ‘parking rights’ over two specific car parking spaces. What was the effect of the document: was it a binding lease, or was it merely an easement?

A new (3rd) edition of the Standard Commercial Property Conditions has been published. These are of fundamental importance for those involved in the sale or letting of commercial property. There are important changes to VAT, insurance, and special conditions, all of which are dealt with by separate entries below. Otherwise, there are numerous changes to note, including:

The 3rd edition of the Standard Commercial Property Conditions reverses the previous position on VAT by providing that the seller warrants that the sale of the property will constitute a supply chargeable to VAT at the standard rate.

The 3rd edition of the Standard Commercial Property Conditions now contains an express statement that the property is at the buyer’s risk from exchange; this was implicit in the 2nd edition but is now express.

You cannot normally save money on transfer fees by putting more than one transfer in a single document. The fee is payable on the ‘transfer’ (ie the act of transferring), not the deed or form that effects the transfer. Thus, separate fees are required for what are really multiple dispositions. For instance:

If a client is buying off plan, and so exchanging well before the completion date, then it is worth being aware of the traditional transitional rules where there is a change in SDLT. Broadly, if a contract has been entered into before a specific date then the buyer will pay the old (typically lower) SDLT rate, unless on or after that date there has been: 

What happens if an off-plan buyer exchanges contracts, pays a deposit, and then the developer goes bust?