Response to Roger Sceats Thank you for posting your question on Ask the Editor Clearly any situation depends on the specific facts and communications sent to a person by a law firm, but in general terms, cases have held that solicitors can owe a duty of care to non clients and a potential implied retainer …
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Hot off the press is the SRA’s risk outlook for 2020/21. We will look at it in more detail in the new year but conveyancers should be aware that the focus is on them again in relation to AML and risk. The SRA points out that the number of money laundering matters that they are …
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The Grenfell fire tragedy led to the discovery that a large number of high-rise residential blocks of flats were covered with unsafe material. The problem cladding is aluminium composite material (ACM) and the government has advised that it should be removed from all buildings over 18 metres in height. Mortgage lenders began to require assurances …
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On 21 November 2020 (yes, a Saturday) the Housing Secretary announced that the EWS1 forms will no longer be needed for buildings without cladding. The government states that this will clear the way for up to nearly 450,000 flat owners to sell, move or remortgage their homes. The government has said that it will make …
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HMLR has updated PG 73: statements of truth to make it clear what to do if it contains errors and an important clarification regarding signatures. A statement of truth is a method of providing evidence in support of an application sent to HMLR. The need to provide evidence may arise in a variety of situations, …
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This is important. HMLR will resume the cancelling of applications with outstanding requests for information (requisitions) from 16 November 2020. Reminder letters will be sent to customers giving four weeks’ notice of the cancellation, along with information on how to request an extension if conveyancers are still unable to reply. HMLR requests that firms do …
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HMLR has made a small but significant chance to PG 2: First registration of title where deeds have been lost or destroyed, so it seems like a useful prompt to remind practitioners as to the requirements more generally. If deeds have been lost or destroyed and an application for first registration is made, HMLR has …
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Conveyancing practitioners will be familiar with form RQ: Request for a restriction by owners not living at the property. This form is a straightforward way of getting a form LL restriction in the following terms on a register of title: ‘No disposition of the registered estate by the proprietor of the registered estate is to …
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Form ID4 To assist with the disruption caused by the Covid-19 situation, HMLR has introduced form ID4: certificate of identity for a body corporate. This form should be used if it is not possible for the applicant to have their identity verified by a conveyancer. The form can only be used if the person signing …
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Conveyancing practitioners no doubt remind clients who are selling a dwelling house that is not their only or main home throughout their period of ownership of the potential CGT liability on sale. However, conveyancers may also wish to add an additional section in their standard purchase report to cover the risks to homeowners who are …