A Certificate of Lawfulness of Existing Use or Development (CLEUD) issued by a Local Planning Authority under the Town and Country Planning Act, s 191 where they have received an application satisfying them of the lawfulness of the use, operations, or any other matter described, in, on, over or under the land.

The City of London Law Society (CLLS) Land Law Committee has published responses to two Law Commission consultations on commercial leasehold and business tenancy renewal. On commercial leasehold, the CLLS broadly supports proposals to facilitate assignments and repeat guarantees within corporate groups and partnerships and to exclude non-residential lettings from the right of first refusal regime, while opposing its extension to shared premises used by residential tenants only for purposes such as access or escape. On business tenancy renewal, the CLLS questions whether the existing formulaic tenant-protection process under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) remains necessary, supports excluding periodic tenancies from the scope of LTA 1954 and simplifying contracting out into a single-step process incorporated into the lease. It also supports closing the 'Van Staden trap' by allowing all written tenancies to be contracted out. It further argues that unauthorised subleases should not attract security of tenure, supports retaining the existing O'May 'other terms' test without specific environmental treatment and opposes discounting renewal rent for a hypothetical fit-out period.

The City of London Law Society (CLLS) Land Law Committee has published a 2026 update to the eighth edition of its Certificate of Title suite of precedent documents. The updated suite includes the Certificate, wrapper, confirmation letters for draft and final Certificates, questionnaire and supplemental enquiries. The Certificate introduces new statements in Schedule 3 relating to the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) to assist in determining whether a building falls within the scope of relevant or higher risk buildings under the BSA 2022. The Committee has also reinstated chancel repair searches as a specified search in Schedule 6 and provided additional guidance on liability caps and market practice. Consequential amendments have also been made to other documents in the suite.

This Practice Note looks at the standard form novation agreements published by the City of London Law Society (CLLS) and the Construction Industry Council (CIC). Novation is now a very common feature in construction projects. It occurs in a number of different scenarios but has, in particular, become accepted practice on projects procured on a design and build basis. For more on novation in general, see Practice Note: Novation in construction projects. It is common for parties involved in construction projects to use their own, bespoke forms of novation agreement and, as a result, there are very many different forms in circulation. The principal published forms considered in this Practice Note are the CLLS Construction Law Novation Agreement 2007, the CIC Novation Agreement—Ab Initio (first edition 2018) and the CIC Novation Agreement—Switch (second edition 2021). The CLLS and CIC ab initio forms adopt an ab initio approach, while the CIC Switch form separates the consultant’s pre- and post-novation services and obligations. Each form contains express drafting intended to address the risk highlighted by Blyth & Blyth

The City of London Law Society (CLLS) Company Law and Insolvency Law Committees, and the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA), have submitted responses to the government's Corporate Civil Enforcement Reforms consultation. The CLLS opposes several key government proposals, including replacing courts with the Secretary of State as decision-maker in disqualification proceedings and automatic disqualification following public interest winding-ups. It also opposes reversing the burden of proof for connected party transactions at undervalue, introducing an insolvency presumption for connected party preferences and lowering the threshold under section 244 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986) to ‘commercially disproportionate.’ The IPA broadly supports the reforms, welcoming proposals to strengthen antecedent transaction provisions and introduce a presumption of insolvency for connected party transactions. It supports fast-tracking disqualification following public interest winding-ups and broader information-gathering powers for the Secretary of State. However, it shares concerns about ‘commercially disproportionate’ terminology, warning this could hinder legitimate rescue financing. The IPA also calls for modernisation of the Director Conduct Reporting Service and two-way dialogue between the Insolvency Service and insolvency practitioners.

The City of London Law Society (CLLS) and the Law Society of England and Wales have published a joint response to the Department for Business and Trade's consultation on implementing a UK corporate re-domiciliation regime, expressing strong support for its introduction while recommending a number of refinements. The response argues that allowing companies to retain their legal identity when moving their place of registration to the UK would provide a more efficient alternative to existing mechanisms, enhance the UK's attractiveness as a jurisdiction of choice, and recommends that the regime should ultimately permit both inward and outward re-domiciliation. It also comments on the proposed eligibility criteria, Companies House application process, solvency statements, legal continuity following re-domiciliation, creditor protection, accounting and audit requirements, insolvency, security interests, taxation and the interaction of the regime with regulatory and overseas entity requirements.

The City of London Law Society (CLLS) and the Law Society have published a joint response to BEIS, HMRC and HM Treasury’s consultation seeking views on the introduction of a corporate re-domiciliation regime which would help to support companies seeking to relocate to the UK. The response was prepared by a Joint Working Party of the Company Law Committees of the CLLS and the Law Society. Overall, the Committees support the introduction of a UK corporate inward and outward re-domiciliation regime, as they consider that it will increase the attractiveness of the UK as a jurisdiction in which to incorporate a company and in which to invest.

The City of London Law Society's financial law committee has published a comprehensive note addressing the execution of legal assignments under section 136 of The Law of Property Act 1925. This guidance, released on 30 January 2025, specifically focuses on the execution procedures for English and overseas companies, as well as English limited liability partnerships. The document seeks to provide clarity and direction for legal practitioners dealing with such assignments, ensuring compliance with current property law requirements.

The City of London Law Society (CLLS) Land Law Committee (Committee) has published a response to the Law Commission’s consultation on chancel repair liability (CRL) and registration. The Committee welcomes the Law Commission’s attempt to resolve an issue which can add to the cost of conveyancing transactions for purchasers as CRL insurance policies rarely pay out, but questions whether the Law Commission’s proposals are necessary, or will be effective, when CRL is no longer an interest with overriding status under the Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002) and must be protected by notice for a purchaser to be bound.

The Joint Working Party of the City of London Law Society (CLLS) and the Law Society of England and Wales has released a series of illustrative documents, that update and clarify various legal frameworks for contractual offers and share admissions. The updated Admission Condition Note—superseding the April 2011 version—details the conditions under which consideration shares may be admitted for listing on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)'s official list and for trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE)’s main market in accordance with the UK Takeover Code. It reflects recent amendments to the UK listing rules, effective from 19 January 2026, which eliminate the previous requirement for issuers to submit an additional FCA application for further share issues, thus streamlining the process to a single application for trading on the LSE.

The City of London Law Society (CLLS) has published its response to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA’s) consultation, ‘Financial Penalties: further developing our framework’. The SRA issued the consultation to canvass views on its proposals to update its fining framework in light of its new powers under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023) to issue unlimited fines for certain breaches of SRA rules. The CLLS has stated that although it shares agreement as to the ‘overall basis of fines’, it has ‘grave concerns’ in relation to the scheme. In particular, the CLLS has argued that the SRA has not given regard to the likely impact of fines on firms and individuals, has not proposed a scheme which is consistent with the common law in relation to the regulation and discipline of solicitors and that the scheme could lead to disproportionate and unfair outcomes. It has further contended that these issues are compounded by the apparent refusal of the SRA to recognise that their decision-making processes are no longer fit for purpose (they were designed at a time when the SRA had no fining power). The CLLS has suggested that if the Legal Services Board is asked to approve this scheme, it may be vulnerable to challenge by way of judicial review.

CLLS registration gap clauses The City of London Law Society have produced