The Government has issued a press release giving details on how far it has moved, to date, in the process towards the implementation of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (now to be known as the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme) in April 2010. Legislation to implement CRC is expected before the end of the year. The press release includes links to the Government's response to the recent consultation on CRC and announces a number of changes that have emerged from the consultation process. No changes, however, are proposed to the basic liability structure of CRC which will affect those who contract for energy in buildings (i.e. very often the landlord) rather than those who actually consume the energy (i.e. the tenants). Click on DECC Press Release on CRC for more details.

The Business Section of today's Times includes a useful, albeit brief, guide to CRC for clients, explaining some of the key issues clients should consider between now and implementation. Click on CRC in The Times - How to meet the Carbon Reduction Commitment. Your clients may be interested to read this.

A prudent buyer of registered land will usually conduct a company search. Although registrations at Companies House do not fix a buyer of registered land with notice of the matters recorded (e.g. liquidation, striking-off, fixed or floating charges), so that a buyer confronted with a clean set of official copies and a clear OS1 search will acquire a good title nonetheless, other aspects of the transaction, beyond pure legal title, may influence the buyer to search. A buyer would normally want to know if a liquidation was on the cards.

What if, having acted prudently, the search throws up a floating charge? Instinct might cause the buyer’s conveyancer to consider requesting a letter of non-crystallisation, to ensure that the charge has not become fixed onto the assets of the seller. But remember, a clean set of official copies, a clear OS1 search, and registration within the priority period will enable the buyer to acquire a good title. If the floating charge is not noted on the register at the Land Registry, then whether it has crystallised or not, it cannot bind the buyer. The buyer is entitled to take the register at the Land Registry as it finds it.

Aggrieved lenders who see registered titles transferred free from their crystallised charge may petition the Land Registry, but to no avail. Any objection, under section 73 LRA 2002, to the buyer’s registration as proprietor free from the charge is groundless: the crystallised charge, not having been noted at the Land Registry, did not bind the buyer. Any application for rectification of the title is further offline: rectification is available to correct a mistake in the register. There has been no mistake: the crystallised charge did not bind the buyer.

But shall we ask for a letter “just to be safe”? Let us not unnecessarily complicate already complicated transactions.

October 1 is the final commencement date in relation to the remaining provisions of the Companies Act 2006 not yet in force. Time to dust down any property documents that you are keeping up-to-date and to make sure that any references to provisions of the 1985 Act are replaced by the equivalent provisions of the 2006 Act.... Property PSL documents have been updated. (Thankfully, section 42 LTA 1954 was chosen for use to deal with companies that are in the same group).

The October 2009 edition of the Commercial Property Information Update is published today on this website.

New to the website today is a licence to occupy premises. Drafting notes are included. Also added is a draft letter which is intended to provide a would-be tenant with access to a property pending settlement of the terms of a travelling draft lease (which is appended to the letter). Click on http://www.propertypsl.co.uk/node/388

An additional provision has been included, at part D, paragraph 8, in the Property PSL report on title to deal with the forthcoming Carbon Reduction Commitment. See v3 (Sept 09) of the report on title at http://www.propertypsl.co.uk/node/121

Next Friday (18 September) sees the end of the Law Society's consultation on residential conveyancing. See Improving residential conveyancing: Law Society consultation.

The process of consultation is relevant to all conveyancers - residential or commercial. This is because the Law Society has given itself a remit to review a number of fundamental aspects of conveyancing, and these would have a knock-on effect on commercial or mixed use transactions. The review includes a proposed part-reversal of the caveat emptor principle through the introduction of property warranties, a review of the Law Society formulae for exchanging contracts (including the introduction of a new formula for electronic exchange), and revisions to the Standard Conditions of Sale (4th Edition). You may wish to air your views in response to the Law Society's paper. But there is only one week left in which to do so.

As mentioned in this month’s CPI Update (Issue 71) the Land Registration (Amendment) Rules 2009 (SI 2009/1996) amend the Land Registration Rules 2003 from October 1 to:
(a) make provision concerning the registration of charges by overseas companies. See new Rule 111A LRR 2003;
(b) change the references to “registered number in England and Wales” that appear in the Land Registry prescribed forms (and prescribed clauses in leases) to “registered number in the United Kingdom”; and
(c) provide an additional form of execution by limited liability partnerships, so that a single member of the LLP can execute on behalf of it if the member’s signature is witnessed. See new Form F(ii), Schedule 9, LRR 2003. The reason for this change is that the Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 2009 apply section 44 CA 2006 (dealing with the execution of documents) to LLPs in a modified form so that a document is validly executed by an LLP if it is signed on behalf of the LLP by two members, or by a member in the presence of a witness who attests.

To explain its rule amendments in greater detail, the Land Registry has issued a new Practice Bulletin. Click on LRPB 18.

The Working Group responsible for the Code for Leasing Business Premises in England and Wales has produced two documents relating to climate change:

1. Briefing Note - Environmental Good Practice - see http://www.leasingbusinesspremises.co.uk/downloads/RICS-Addendum_2.pdf

This briefing note includes, as an addendum to the Code for Leasing Business Premises in England and Wales 2007, a guide for landlords and tenants in drafting a "Memorandum of Understanding" to support environmental good practice. The briefing note says that it is in the public interest that landlords and tenants should each adopt environmental good practice policies so far as they can do so without adversely affecting the value of their buildings or the viability of their businesses

The briefing note suggests that landlords will often be able to apply environmental good practice policies under the existing balanced lease clauses that the Code promotes, without needing special provisions.

2. Briefing Note – Environmental Management of Building Agreement - see http://www.leasingbusinesspremises.co.uk/downloads/RICS-Environmental_2....

This note is not part of the Code. It sets out the type of issues an environmental management agreement is likely to cover. An "Environmental Management of Building Agreement" sets out the basis on which an owner of a building occupied by more than one occupier will be run. It is intended to be operated more like a Code of Practice than a set of rules or covenants.

A green lease memorandum of understanding has been added to the website. See Memorandum of Understanding. This documents appears in a guidance paper - “Green Lease Toolkit (Working together to improve sustainability)” - published by the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP).

Also new on the site is a lease of an industrial unit (part of an estate) - see Industrial Unit Lease.