Property Practice

What this module covers

Every section of Property Practice, in the order the course teaches them. This is the whole syllabus for the module, not a selection. Open a section to read the topics inside it.

1. The Conveyancing Transaction: Stages and Key Questions4 topics

   • The six stages of a transaction
   • The four threshold questions
   • Framing the transaction at the outset
   • The memorandum of sale
2. Pre-Contract: Instructions, Conduct, Survey, CGT and Disclosure5 topics

   • Acting for buyer and lender
   • Co-ownership advice
   • The seller’s limited duty of disclosure
   • Capital Gains Tax and the 60-day deadline
   • Source of funds and source of wealth
3. Investigation of Title: Registered and Unregistered5 topics

   • The three registers of a registered title
   • A good root of title in unregistered land
   • Indemnity insurance for a title defect
   • The classes of registered title
   • Buying from a sole surviving joint tenant
4. Pre-Contract Searches and Enquiries9 topics

   • Searches made in every case
   • Transaction and location specific searches
   • Raising enquiries before exchange
   • The Law Society Protocol forms
   • Energy performance certificates
   • Exemptions from an energy performance certificate
   • The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard
   • Common land and village green enquiries
   • Flooding disclosure and flood searches
5. Planning Control, Listed Buildings and Building Regulations7 topics

   • When development needs permission
   • Time limits on planning enforcement
   • Stop notices
   • Use classes and the building regulations
   • Building regulations enforcement limits
   • Outline permission and reserved matters
   • Listed buildings, curtilage and grading
6. Contract: Standard Conditions, Deposit, Risk and Insurance4 topics

   • The Standard Conditions of Sale
   • The deposit held as stakeholder
   • Risk passing on exchange
   • The indemnity covenant in the transfer
7. Exchange of Contracts and the Law Society Formulae2 topics

   • The exchange formulae
   • Protecting the contract by registration
8. Pre-Completion: Requisitions, Purchase Deed, Searches and Registration Gap6 topics

   • The official search with priority
   • The purchase deed
   • Apportionments on completion
   • Assents by personal representatives
   • Land charges searches on unregistered land
   • Engrossment of a lease and its counterpart
9. Completion and Post-Completion5 topics

   • What completion achieves
   • Registration deadlines after completion
   • Consequences of breaching an undertaking
   • Completion by post
   • Cancelling the seller’s buildings insurance
10. Stamp Duty Land Tax (England and Northern Ireland)9 topics

    • The return and the 14-day deadline
    • Residential rates for 2026
    • The additional dwellings surcharge
    • First-time buyer relief
    • The non-resident surcharge
    • Tax on the grant of a lease
    • Linked transactions
    • Six or more dwellings in one transaction
    • Transfers to a connected company
11. Land Transaction Tax (Wales)1 topic

    • The main residential rates in Wales
12. Leasehold: Grant, Assignment, Covenants and Alienation13 topics

    • Grant and assignment compared
    • The agreement for lease
    • Alienation covenants and consent
    • Easements, reservations and rent cesser
    • Release of the outgoing tenant, and authorised agreements
    • Forfeiture and the section 146 notice
    • Commercial rent arrears recovery
    • Remedies for breach of a repairing covenant
    • Notice to the landlord on completion
    • Service charge retentions on a sale
    • Management company shares
    • Leasehold features a lender will not accept
    • The leasehold contract package
13. The Code for Leasing Business Premises (RICS, 2020)3 topics

    • Status and mandatory force of the Code
    • Scope and exclusions
    • Heads of terms under the Code
14. Security of Tenure for Business Tenants (LTA 1954)2 topics

    • How security of tenure works
    • The statutory grounds of opposition, and compensation
15. Delayed Completion and Remedies for Breach5 topics

    • Notice to complete
    • Remedies before and after completion
    • Misdescription and misrepresentation
    • The seller’s damages on a resale
    • Rental income in place of compensation
16. Finance Sources, Mortgage Types and Acting for the Lender8 topics

    • Sources of finance and repayment structures
    • Creating a legal charge
    • Certificate of title and drawdown
    • The named mortgage products
    • Advising on a product is a regulated activity
    • The lenders’ handbook checklist
    • Borrowing from a private source
    • Consent from a non-owning occupier
17. VAT on Property Transactions and the Option to Tax2 topics

    • The exemption and the option to tax
    • New commercial buildings are standard rated
18. Termination of Leases and Rent Review3 topics

    • The ways a lease may end
    • Rent review clauses
    • Determining a reviewed rent by arbitration