The Land Registry hopes to release its digital mortgage service in public beta this year. In a recent news update, the Registry’s digital services manager Eddie Davies said that ‘the department is continuing to work with Coventry and Enact on the next phases of the service as well as also working with lenders to get their mortgage deeds approved and templates created. So far, the Registry has approved several deeds from lenders in the remortgage market including Nationwide, HSBC, RBS, NatWest and Santander. ‘Since opening the service to more lenders and conveyancers we have seen an increase in the number of digital mortgages registered showing an appetite in the market to use new technology. Some lenders have started offering online mortgage applications and our service helps to bring the industry one step closer to an end-to-end digital process.’

Interim guidance has been issued to enable an extension of the statutory 26-week deadline in guardianship proceedings. The guidance has been issued by the Family Justice Council and approved by the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane. Read more...

Legal Aid Regulations have been amended to exclude payments made under the Windrush Compensation Scheme as income or capital in determining the eligibility of legal aid.

A residential leaseholder's right to manage is under review by the Law Commission. Submissions closed 30 April 2019 and the outcome is now awaited.

A co-ownership deed has been added to the Purchase of Land guide, setting out the arrangements between tenants in common. Read more...

The Domestic Violence Orders publication has been expanded to include additional information about Legal Aid funding, some new precedent letters, and ready access to the Legal Aid Agency forms. Read more...

The Core Practice Management Standards of the Conveyancing Quality Scheme commenced today. These standards help to clarify the scheme requirements and assist firms to implement the necessary policies, procedures and plans.

At By Lawyers we love to hear from you. After all, our philosophy is focused on practical materials to assist practitioners to get the job done and to enjoy practice more. At the bottom of each matter plan we have included a hyperlink to Comments & Suggestions. Clicking on the link will open a form which users can fill out and submit. The form will require your name and email but that is simply so we can respond to you personally. Is there a precedent you need? A topic to be discussed? A point of view to be expressed? Share with us. We would love to hear from you!

Following a user request last week we have drafted a new precedent with a variety of additional enquiries that a purchaser may ask on those less than common occasions. Read more...

The library of precedents within the financial settlements publication in family law has been increased in order to assist solicitors when preparing documents for financial settlement proceedings. Read more...

From 1 March 2019 the time limit for filing stamp duty land tax returns and making payments was reduced from 30 days to 14 days. This affected residential and commercial properties. Please note the 30-day limit continues to apply where a further return is required.

To assist practitioners working in Debt Recovery – Acting for the claimant, we have published a Debt statement which brings together details of the debt, interest and costs, as well as the payments that have been made towards it. This will be especially useful where payment plans have been agreed with debtors and is designed to work alongside the Invoice, Debt details and Payment tables within LEAP. 1. Insert the debt details in an Invoice table – add another invoice by right clicking on the existing one to record more than one debt amount if required. 2. Insert interest and costs details in the top half of the Debt details table. 3. Insert payment details into a Payments table each time a payment is received – add another payment by right clicking on the existing one. 4. Provided the above information has been entered into LEAP, the Debt statement will be complete. If the information is incorrect, amend the LEAP tables and use the update button in the LEAP ribbon tab to update the document. This document can be produced as many times as necessary to provide successive statements. An accompanying Letter to debtor enclosing debt statement has also been published. Adding these new precedents is part of By Lawyers continuing commitment to enhancing our content and helping our subscribers enjoy practice more.

As users will be aware, this folder of vital precedents is present in every guide and always located in the ‘Getting the matter underway’ folder. There has now been a full review of the accompanying commentary, with guidance added around privity, ‘force majeure’ clauses and electronic execution. The precedent documents have been reviewed and updated to ensure that each one is uniformly formatted and easy to read, use, amend and customise to a particular client and situation. A new standard clause excluding the rights of third parties has been included in the Standard clauses for deeds and agreements folder and a standard statutory declaration of solvency is now available in the Statements and declarations folder of the matter plan. General precedents for an affidavit and exhibits prepared outside court proceedings are also now included in this folder, as well as gathering together the general civil and family matter witness statement precedents that are already included in other publications. New deeds for change of name have been added in a folder of their own, Change of name, with subfolders to assist in the event that adults or minors wish to enrol their change of name deeds at the Supreme Court. The full list of new precedents is therefore: Third parties clause; Affidavit – General; Exhibit sheet for affidavits – General; Witness statement – Family matters; Exhibit sheet to witness statement – Family matters; Witness statement – Civil matters; Exhibit sheet to witness statement – Civil matters; Statutory declaration of solvency; Change of name deed for an adult – Concise; Change of name deed for a minor – Concise; Change of name deed for an adult - For enrolment; Statutory declaration – Enrolment of adult change of name deed; Notice for the London Gazette on the change of name of an adult; Consent to enrolment of change of name of an adult; Change of name deed for a minor – For enrolment; Statutory declaration – Enrolment of minor change of name deed; Affidavit of best interest for the change of name of a minor; Consent to enrolment of change of name of a minor. We invite you to explore this updated publication. Comments and feedback are always welcomed.

Legislation has now come into force permitting wills to be executed and witnessed using video-link facilities. The legislation has retrospective effect, meaning that any wills executed using video-conferencing since 21 January 2020 will be valid if the correct process was followed. The Wills commentary includes detailed discussion of the processes involved in the witnessing of a will using video-link. Precedents for client instructions, a practitioner’s checklist and an attendance note have been created, as well as example wording for a will attestation clause. We invite you to explore this updated publication. Comments and feedback are always welcomed.

The Wills commentary has been enhanced to include detailed discussion of the processes involved in the witnessing of a will using video-link. Precedents for client instructions, a practitioner’s checklist and an attendance note have been created, as well as example wording for a will attestation clause. We invite you to explore this updated publication. Comments and feedback are always welcomed