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Standard documents and drafting notes: Property
Practical Law UK Help and Information Notes 3-200-9460 (Approx. 44 pages)
Standard documents and drafting notes: Property
| Maintained • England, Wales |
The standard documents for Practical Law Property, together with their accompanying drafting notes, are listed below. Each document is listed only once and by reference to the topic to which it is most relevant.
The same documents may also be viewed by clicking on the relevant subject in the topic index on the Practical Law Property homepage and selecting the "Standard documents" tab.
For our Scots law resources see the Scots law resource centre.
Title matters
Commercial Property Standard Enquiries
PLC Property hosts the CPSE, which are prepared by members of the London Property Support Lawyers Group and are endorsed by the British Property Federation. The suite of documents includes guidance notes and historic versions of the individual sets of queries.
Other sets of pre-contract enquiries
The following are not part of the CPSE suite:
- Additional enquiries on CRC issues: which to select
Certificate of title
For links to related documents (including company confirmation letters and supplemental enquiries for the certificate) produced by the City of London Law Society Land Law Sub-Committee (CLLS), see its Certificate of Title page.
Reports on title
- CLLS Short Form Report on Title (4th Edition). This is the report on title produced by the CLLS.
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Long form lease reports
Long form lease reports contains drafting notes and links to the following long form lease reports:
- Long form lease report which has not been pre-populated. This is so that it can be adapted for use in relation to any commercial lease.
- Office lease reports
- Retail lease reports
- Industrial unit/warehouse lease reports
Pre-contract
Residential property client guides
These guides are intended to be given by a lawyer to a client, or potential client, to provide them with an introductory understanding of a transaction they are entering into or enquiry about:
Contracts for sale of commercial property
For contracts to be used in insolvency situations, see Insolvency.
Sale of land with vacant possession
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Sale of land subject to leases
Capital allowances
For a list of, and links to, the previous versions of the sale contracts that were replaced in February 2022 and which are no longer maintained and updated, see Practice note, Practical Law Property old form property sale contracts. For more information about the changes made to the sale contracts in February 2022, see Practice note, Changes made to the Practical Law Property contracts for the sale of land.
Contracts for the sale of residential property
Letters advising on aspects of conveyancing
For a list of, and links to, the previous versions of the sale contracts that were replaced in February 2022 and which are no longer maintained and updated, see Practice note, Practical Law Property old form property sale contracts. For more information about the changes made to the sale contracts in February 2022, see Practice note, Changes made to the Practical Law Property contracts for the sale of land.
Completion documents
Undertakings
- Undertakings set out in City of London Law Society: Protocol for Discharging Mortgages of Commercial Property. This Protocol contains two suggested undertakings:
- Undertaking to be given by the seller's solicitors to the seller's bank (or seller's bank's solicitors) (recipient) confirming that they are holding the DS1 to the recipient's order and following completion will transfer the completion monies to the recipient.
- Undertaking to be given by the seller's solicitors to the buyer's solicitors and (if appropriate) the buyer's bank's solicitors confirming (amongst other things) that they are holding the release documents executed by the bank and will hold the completion monies to the order of the buyer's solicitors until completion.
- Undertaking to hold completion monies. An undertaking from a borrower’s solicitors, addressed to a lender, to hold completion monies to a lender's order, for example on a commercial property or share purchase transaction likely to complete outside banking hours.
- Undertaking to hold title deeds. An undertaking from a law firm acting for a lender to hold title deeds to the lender's order.
Contracts and deeds clauses
To view clauses for use with contracts, see Practical Law Property Standard clauses and drafting notes: Contracts and deeds.
Leases of commercial property
Overriding leases
For a list of our old commercial leases which are no longer maintained and updated, see Practice note, Old form leases.
Lease management
Lease extension and enfranchisement
Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993
- Extending the lease of a flat (LRHUDA 1993): client guide. This is an introductory guide, designed to be given by a lawyer to a client who is considering extending their lease of a flat.
- Collective enfranchisement (LRHUDA 1993): client guide. This is an introductory guide, designed to be given by a lawyer to a client who is enquiring about collective enfranchisement.
Tenants' rights of first refusal under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987
- Tenants' right of first refusal (LTA 1987): client guide. This is an introductory guide designed for a lawyer to give a client that has received a section 5A notice.
Business tenancies and Landlord and Tenant Act 1954
Easements, covenants and third party rights
Corporate support
Asset purchase and share purchase
See Practical Law Property Standard clauses and drafting notes, Corporate support for standard clauses and drafting notes relevant to property for inclusion in:
- An asset purchase agreement.
- A share purchase agreement.
Development and construction
Clauses for development and construction
To view clauses for development and construction, see Practical Law Property Standard clauses and drafting notes: Development and construction
Options, right of pre-emption and overage
Mortgages and security
Clauses for mortgages and security
To view clauses for mortgages and security, see Practical Law Property Standard clauses and drafting notes: Mortgages and security.
Insolvency
Sale by trustee in bankruptcy
For a list of, and links to, the previous versions of the sale contracts that were replaced in February 2022 and which are no longer maintained and updated, see Practice note, Practical Law Property old form property sale contracts. For more information about the changes made to the sale contracts in February 2022, see Practice note, Changes made to the Practical Law Property contracts for the sale of land.
Residential tenancies
Planning
Highways
Using Property standard documents
The standard documents are:
- Maintained and constantly updated by the Practical Law Property Professional Support team. Amendments are recorded in a Resource history, which can be accessed from the Actions box for the relevant document.
- Accompanied by detailed drafting notes, which explain the key transaction, legal, negotiating and drafting issues in relation to that standard document.These notes are contained either:
- in a separate document (drafting note) that can be readily accessed by clicking on the "Drafting note" link in the abstract at the top of the document; or
- in integrated drafting notes, which are integrated into the web view of the standard documents.
The integrated notes give brief warnings, explanations and directions and link to practice notes and other relevant drafting notes. They are designed to provide more immediate help with drafting and negotiation. The integrated drafting notes can be viewed separately or integrated with the standard document. This is done using the "Actions" box in the top right hand corner of the relevant standard document. - Available in Microsoft Word format.Select the Word tab that appears in the Actions box. You can then save a copy of the standard document to your computer. How you do this depends on your internet browser (for example, Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox), but you will usually need to select "Save As" from the File menu. Most Word documents on the service use a sophisticated template (see How do I use the Practical Law Word template?, which explains how to deal with automated numbering and tables of contents.)Practical Law has developed an application, called Firmstyle, which enables standard documents to be downloaded in a subscriber's own house style, so saving substantial time for fee-earners and secretaries. For further information, see Firmstyle.
Fast Draft
Most standard documents are now available through Fast Draft. This is free to use, being included as part of a subscription to Practical Law Property. You will know if a standard document is available through Fast Draft as it will be accompanied by this logo:
Fast Draft allows you to produce an initial draft document quickly, that is much closer to the draft that you will send out for negotiation. This is done by answering a set of questions. Once you are happy with your draft, you can download into Microsoft Word. We think you will save drafting time. For more information, including tutorials, click here.
Toolkits
Practical Law Property offers a number of toolkits, which bring together materials on particular topics, including standard documents (see Property toolkits).