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Email – service

March 2025 | Procedure

Practitioners might be interested to read a judgment which covered various applications involving an employment/whistleblowing claim, but at the heart of it was also a determination as to whether service by email was effective. On this topic the court said: ‘112. … an agreement for electronic service of proceedings must be precisely that, and that …

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Capacity – international aspects

March 2025 | Wills, probate and administration

Practitioners who don’t routinely advise clients who are moving to, or returning from abroad (or who own foreign assets) should note a new Law Society Practice Note on mental capacity issues in an international context. Its focus is limited to LPAs (property and affairs), EPAs and deputyship. Solicitors are increasingly dealing with matters that involve …

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AST – advance documents

March 2025 | Landlord and tenant – residential

The CA has recently heard a case which raised a point of ‘some general importance’ on the construction of s7 Interpretation Act 1978. The CA summarised the position thus: ‘1. … This section, which re-enacts a materially similar provision in s. 26 of the Interpretation Act 1889 (“IA 1889”), provides as follows: “7 References to …

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Adoption – immigration; young adults

March 2025 | Family

New government guidance confirms that if a young person from another country has already turned 18 by the time an adoption order has been made, citizenship should normally be granted (and promptly). International adoptions can take longer than usual given they are typically more complex, engaging jurisdictional issues and immigration law. However, the British Nationality …

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HMLR – PG27

March 2025 | Conveyancing

HMLR has made a change to PG27 (the leasehold reform legislation). If the impending changes to leasehold are introduced, practitioners must become familiar with PG27. The update is as follows: ‘In section 1 reference has been added to the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. Sections 4.1 and 5.3 have been amended as a result …

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International adoption – ‘for the purposes of adoption’

March 2025 | Family

As readers will know from the above case, s83 ACA prohibits an individual from bringing a child to the UK ‘for the purpose of adoption’ – a phrase for which there is no statutory guidance. In this case, the key issue was what ‘for the purposes of adoption’ means in circumstances where an aunt (A) …

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Adoption support services – statutory obligations

March 2025 | Family

In February’s edition of PL, we covered an adoption decision in which a judge criticised the LA for refusing a birth mother direct contact with the child. Another LA has attracted judicial criticism for its failure to understand its obligations around support services. LAs have a statutory obligation to offer appropriate support services to prospective …

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Security of tenure – consultation

February 2025 | Landlord and tenant – commercial

In our July/August 2024 edition (p27) we referred to the Law Commission’s proposed consultation on whether the right to renew business tenancies, set out in Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, is working and whether it meets the needs of business tenants and landlords. The first consultation paper has been released seeking …

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