The Practical Lawyer

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) was merged into the newly formed UK Finance in July 2017 (and the CML Handbook was appropriately renamed in December).

Do the Commercial Property Standard Enquiries need to be amended, or added to, as a result of the Grenfell Tower fire?

 If it turns out that a lease plan is incorrect then pause for thought before deciding what to do.

In an important decision, the FTT has held that the cost of electronic searches on conveyancing transactions is not a disbursement for VAT purposes. Instead, the cost is part of the overall provision of legal services to the client and is thus subject to VAT (on the same basis as any other payment for legal services).

What happens if a notice is served on someone who is dead? The answer depends on whether or not the person serving the notice knows that the intended recipient has died.  

The Commercial Property Standard Enquiries have been slightly amended (documents 1, 5, and 7).

The Law Society and LR have issued a joint note on property and title fraud.  

The LR is tightening its criteria for rejecting applications for first registration (whether freehold or leasehold).

If a right of pre-emption (ie a right to buy) does not specifically say that it can be protected at the LR by registration of a restriction, then it is still possible to enter a notice at the LR. However, the UT has now held that it is also possible to enter a restriction (in addition to the notice), even if the agreement does not expressly provide for that, or expressly limited the owner’s powers to make a disposition.

A reminder of the basics when replying to standard enquiries: