If there is a sole attorney then, in summary, the answer is no, because: • an enduring power of attorney (EPA) cannot be made after 30 September 2007 • an EPA must be executed by both the donor and the attorney: Enduring Powers of Attorney (Prescribed Form) Regulations 1990, SI 1990/1376, reg 3 • therefore, the EPA was not made until it was executed by both the donor and the attorney. If that was after 30 September 2007, it cannot be valid EPA Paragraph

For comprehensive guidance on the validity of enduring powers of attorney (EPAs), see Practice Note: Requirements for a valid EPA and Commentary: Consequences of failure to comply with the formalities: Cretney and Lush on Lasting and Enduring Powers of Attorney (Chapter 16) [16.60]. The above sources explain that one of the requirements of a valid EPA is that it is in the ‘prescribed form’. There were various different prescribed forms in force over the years but all of these required the donor’s date of birth to be entered. In the event that an EPA is not in the prescribed form, there are two saving provisions found in paragraph 2 of Schedule 4 to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005) that might assist: • if it does not contain the relevant prescribed information but has been executed in the correct form and there is no evidence to the contrary,

This question raises the issue of when it is necessary to obtain and produce an energy performance certificate (EPC). The position is governed by the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012, SI 2012/3118. An EPC which is registered after 9 January 2013 must among other matters express the asset rating of the property and be issued by an accredited energy assessor. The certificate is valid for ten years unless a newer certificate is issued in respect of the same building. Where a building is to be sold or rented out, the relevant person must make available free of charge a valid EPC to any prospective buyer or prospective tenant. The relevant person means the prospective seller or landlord as the case may be. A person becomes a prospective buyer or prospective tenant upon (a) asking for any information about the building from the relevant person or the relevant

The seller or the prospective landlord must make an energy performance certificate (EPC) available to 'a prospective buyer or tenant' free of charge at the earliest opportunity (Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012, SI 2012/3118, reg 6). A person becomes a prospective buyer or tenant in relation to a building when they: • request any information about the building for the purpose of deciding whether to buy or rent the building • make a request to view the building for the purpose of deciding whether

Under the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 EPC Regs 2012, SI 2012/3118, reg 6, an energy performance certificate (EPC) is required when a building is sold or rented out. The EPC guidance for Non-Dwellings, (Chapter 3) (which does not have legal force) states that the purpose of the EPC requirements during sale or rent is to enable potential buyers or tenants to consider energy performance as part of their investment. However, the guidance goes on to state that not all transactions are considered to be a sale

Equitable accounting is a court process in circumstances where co-owners of property split up and where one of the parties has previously, for instance, paid all the mortgage payments or carried out improvements to the property. The principle was set out by Lord Justice Griffiths in Bernard v Josephs, thus (our highlighting): ‘When the proceeds of sale are realised there will have to be equitable accounting between the parties before the money is distributed. If the woman has left, she is entitled to receive an occupation rent, but if the man has kept up the mortgage payments, he is entitled to credit for her share of the payments; if he has

In this Q&A we have considered the ability of an equitable easement to bind a subsequent purchaser of land. An easement is a right over the land of another (the servient land). It is a proprietary right such that, in the right circumstances, it binds successors in title of the servient land and passes to purchasers of the dominant land. It is not an estate in land, but rather an interest in land. An easement can be created by prescription. An easement by prescription occurs in circumstances whereby the law presumes an initial grant conferring a legal origin for the subsequent user. 20 years’ use will infer a lost modern grant even if there is evidence that there was, in fact, no such grant—see Tehidy Minerals Ltd v Norman. Subsequent purchase of registered servient land In order to ascertain whether or not the

We refer you to Practice Note—Personal representatives—powers, duties and remuneration, which sets out the rules regarding remuneration of personal representatives (PRs). As explained in this Practice Note, the general rule is that PRs may only charge for out-of-pocket expenses for the execution of the duties of the office. Exceptions to the general rule are: • where the Will contains an express charging clause and the PR is acting in a professional capacity, and • where the Will

Section 24 of the Wills Act 1837 provides that a Will only speaks from death. It is therefore possible that an executor may not have been informed of their appointment by the testator or otherwise be aware of their appointment as an executor. There is no positive duty for an executor, who may or may not be aware of their appointment in the testator’s Will, to investigate whether a testator has died. In common law and in equity as well as under section 1(1) of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (AEA 1925), the testator’s real property automatically vests in all their executors at the point of death with personalty vesting in all their executors

Practice Note: LTA 1954—terms of the renewal lease explains that the terms of collateral arrangements can be read by the court in conjunction with the terms of a lease. In Homebase v Allied Dunbar Assurance, an underlease was drafted in compliance with the alienation covenant in the headlease, including that the rent and repairing covenant were to be the same as under the headlease. However, a collateral agreement was also drafted, under which the parties agreed that the rent would

The question of whether a person or entity is a data processor or data controller will depend on the circumstances of each individual case. The key will be whether the expert witness determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data (see Practice Note: Key definitions under UK data protection law—Controller). The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published guidance on controllers and processors under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It explains that: • if you exercise overall control of the purpose and means of the processing of personal data, ie you decide what data to process and why—you are a controller • if you don’t have any purpose of your own for processing the data and you only act on a client’s instructions, you are likely to be a processor—even if you make some technical decisions about how you process the data The ICO has also published more detailed guidance on controllers and processors. In the context

An easement of light like any other easement is a right that benefits one plot of land by giving such rights over adjacent land. A right to light is an important right as it prevents the owner of the servient land from interfering with that right, for example, by the construction of buildings on their plot of land which would block light. The scope of such a right is ordinarily that the dominant land has the right to a reasonable amount of natural light from the sky to the windows of their buildings. The right to light applies in respect of windows or other apertures in a building rather than to the land itself. The right is therefore not a general right to receive light but rather relates to a specific dwelling house or other