HM Land Registry has announced that any changes required for existing titles will need to be made digitally as of November 2022. While the organisation has been working to improve its online system for several months, this is the first time that using the digital portal has been made mandatory. The agency, which falls under […]
With ongoing pressures on the property market post-lockdown, professionals in the sector have called on the government to update and improve the system of selling, buying and renting. Most recently, this has included a drive to encourage using Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs). In a recent article published online by the Law Gazette, Andrew Knight, […]
The HM Land Registry have revised their service to provide more options for online applications as well as announcing plans to begin testing their new electronic signature technology. The updates went live on 6 September 2021 and are part of an ongoing effort to digitalise the registry system. The organisation has been working towards digitalisation […]
Ordinarily, Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) must be paid when property or land is purchased above a certain price in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A reduction in the levels of SDLT was introduced, however, in July 2020 in order to provide relief for buyers who suffered a loss of income during the COVID-19 pandemic and […]
This article is designed to introduce buyers and sellers to the complexities of buying or selling leasehold property. Most homes are owned on either a freehold or leasehold basis. A freeholder owns the property and the land outright, whereas a leaseholder owns the property for a fixed period of time, after which it returns to the freeholder. If […]
In February of this year the government published its draft rules governing the future use of digital identities. This is in an effort to make it quicker and easier for people to verify themselves through modern technology and to create a process as trusted as producing passports or bank statements. According to The Department for […]
Are Online Wills Leading to Inheritance Disputes? The number of inheritance disputes heard in the High Court is soaring. As more and more people are turning to the internet to write their wills, is this a coincidence? Probate matters are getting increasingly contentious and this does not account for the disputes that are settled before […]
Be Careful What You Say… The words that we use can often be taken for granted; you might well be familiar with the term ‘a throw-away comment’. At the most fundamental level, words can be reduced to the passage of air over tongue and lips, but in truth, they have tangible power that can last […]
“An Englishman’s home is his castle” is a common statement, but what it actually means in practice is less simple. We call our home many things: our nest; “pied-à-terre”; sanctuary; abode; dwelling quarters or habitat. All of these terms reflect an attachment to the place where we rest our head. Forms of Home Ownership As […]
We live during a time where the past misdemeanors of people are increasingly coming to the surface. There are several contributing factors to this trend – evolving technology and changing cultural norms being examples. Take social media platforms, for instance. Celebrities are being brought to book for unfortunate – or downright inappropriate – comments made […]
