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HMLR – use of email

September 2024 | Conveyancing

Note that section 4.3.7 of PG1 (first registrations) has been amended to reflect that HMLR will only acknowledge receipt of the application if the firm provides an email address. A similar note has been added to section 7 of forms FR1 and AP1. PG55 (address for service) has been amended. HMLR states: ‘Section 3 has …

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EAT – NMW

September 2024 | Employment

It is always interesting to consider an EAT judgment that finds against HMRC – even more so when the National Minimum Wage is involved. The case summary states: ‘Summary National minimum wage The respondent company operated a savings scheme. Its workers voluntarily paid contributions into the fund, which were deducted from their wages, to help …

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HMLR – RXC

September 2024 | Conveyancing

More conveyancers are using form RXC which is HMLR’s form designed to be used where a restriction in the register requires a consent or a certificate to be provided. Practitioners should ensure that they are using the most up-to-date version of the form. On 19 August 2024 a new version of form RXC was published …

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HMLR – rights to light or air

September 2024 | Conveyancing

On 15 July 2024 HMLR introduced a new practice guide – PG62A: rights to light or air. The guide tells firms about the registration of easements under the LRA 2002. HMLR explains the following in section 1: ‘The right to receive natural light through a defined aperture (such as a window or skylight) can be …

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Practice – testamentary capacity

September 2024 | Wills, probate and administration

An experienced wills practitioner failed to grasp how capacity is to be assessed. This was a contested wills case with a complex background involving business transactions and a family at war. A particularly lengthy judgment followed a four-week trial. T was a successful businessman who died in March 2021 leaving four adult children. He left …

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Sentencing – rape

September 2024 | Crime

D appealed an extended 26-year sentence following three convictions of raping his former partner. At the time of the offending D was 18 and his partner was 16-17 years old and particularly vulnerable. The trial judge described his conduct as ‘a sexually obsessed and predatory character…’ and ‘sexually aggressive, abusive and entitled’. Now 42, D …

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HMLR – first registration

September 2024 | Conveyancing

Conveyancers carry out first registration applications fairly rarely and on its own statistics, HMLR can take over a year to consider such applications. So conveyancers should take heed of an important change in HMLR’s procedures relating to first registration applications. In a recent blog, HMLR states: ‘Starting in October 2024, conveyancers will be no longer …

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HMLR – digital systems

September 2024 | Conveyancing

Note that HMLR has updated a number of its practice guides to reflect how applications should be made using its digital systems. These include: PG26: leases – determination; PG19: notices and restrictions; PG8: execution of deeds; PG25: leases: when to register; PG49: return and rejection of applications for registration – note that section 4 of …

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HMLR – PG24

September 2024 | Conveyancing

HMLR has updated section 6.2 of PG24: private trusts of land to include the following point: ‘Application may also be made to alter the register when a court order has been made requiring or directing the registrar to cancel a restriction. The application to give effect to the order should be made in form AP1. …

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CLC – undertakings

September 2024 | Conduct, practice and risk management

The CLC has issued an advisory note on breaches of undertaking and this seems like a good point to remind all practitioners of the importance of compliance with best practice in relation to the giving and receiving of undertakings. While the CLC guidance is relevant to conveyancers, of course, undertakings are relevant in all practice …

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