The staff at all Adams Harrison offices took part in the Wear It Pink campaign recently and raised a total of £50.45.
Also, on 14th October the partners sponsored the MacMillan Late Harvest Luncheon which is another major annual fundraising event for MacMillan, with one of the partners and two solicitors together with their respective spouses attending.
The Law Commission has recently begun consulting about a legal framework for electronic signatures. If this becomes law it will be the last stage in the complete digitisation of legal documents, which in the case of land and title in England and Wales, started on the 23rd November 1998.
The rather inauspicious catalyst was a burglary, when vandals broke into a storage warehouse used by the Bradford & Bingley Building Society, crashed a forklift truck and started a fire. The building society lost thousands of packets of deeds and during the process of reconstructing their titles, which required an application to the Land Registry for each missing title, the society persuaded the Land Registry not to issue them with the traditional Charge Certificates, but to “store” the newly created registered titles on the Land Registry computer.
This arrangement created the first virtual title record and, motivated by the huge savings in storage costs, other lenders quickly followed suit “dematerialising” their existing and subsequently acquired registered titles. This practice had no basis in law and was “an arrangement” between the lenders and the Land Registry but it signalled the birth of “dematerialised” titles, a process later enshrined in law by the Land Registration Act of 2002.
Although the legal profession has (with diminishing numbers of exceptions) embraced both electronic communication and the use of electronic documentation, the stumbling block to full digitisation, at least for those transactions which must by law be in writing or by deed, has for some time been the need to produce a final paper document for the parties to sign. For those property transactions for which registration at the Land Registry is also required, there is a further ironic twist. The Land Registry does not want the paper document. It only wants an electronic copy and its staff will scan, and just to make its point, destroy every paper document it receives. Inevitably, but one hopes only occasionally, human error will prevail and the scan/shred sequence is reversed with unfortunate and sometimes costly consequences.
Digital documents and communication increases dramatically the speed at which transactions can be concluded; there are, as well as the occasional destruction of historic deeds by the Land Registry, significant and increasingly costly negatives. For property lawyers and those not entirely in agreement with their neighbours, there is the loss of important evidence about boundaries, rights and covenants which do not appear on the registered titles and for all of us there is the issue of internet security and fraud, which was not a consideration when we all used paper.
To be continued.
Rhodri Rees
Partner
Property and Commercial
Jennifer Carpenter, Managing Partner clocks up 20 years service with Adams Harrison this week.
Jenny joined the firm 20 years ago in October 1998 as a trainee solicitor, recruited by the firm’s former senior partner, Tom Harrison who was her training principal. “I recall seeing the position advertised whilst I was at the College of Law” said Jenny. “I was immediately attracted to the position as it was stated as being contentious biased. I knew I wanted to practice litigation and not non-contentious areas such as property or probate so it was the ideal training contract for me”.
Jenny has predominantly been based at our Saffron Walden office, where the firm has been based for almost 185 years, and has practiced various areas of litigation.
Jenny commented “There have been changes in the law and in particular the technology used when practicing law in my time with Adams Harrison. When starting as a trainee solicitor e-mail was a very new method of communication and it was almost considered discourteous to e-mail another professional. Letters remained the main method of contact. However, these days e-mails are used almost without exception; so the task of most solicitors is determining how best to deal with the constant influx of this type of communication. Books are now used far less frequently with a lawyer’s resources being available, subject to paying a subscription, on line. In fact almost every type of transaction or litigation is now dealt with on line with various portals and web based systems in place. Gone are the days of needing a typewriter to fill in the fields of a court form”.
Jenny spent many years attending the police station and undertaking advocacy in the Magistrates Court when the firm held a legal aid franchise for criminal legal work. For the duration of her time at the firm she has advised many clients, both employees and employers, on employment related issues, including drafting and advising on settlement agreements. She has negotiated numerous satisfactory outcomes in relation to employment disputes, always priding herself on showing empathy in difficult situations.
Jenny provides contentious probate advice and representation to clients in a variety of situations. “This is becoming an increasingly popular area of the law as people generally appear to have become more aware of the ways in which to question the validity of a will or to bring a claim against an estate” Jenny stated.
Jenny qualified as a solicitor in 2000 and became a partner of the firm in 2005. She has since January 2014 been the Managing Partner of the firm. The firm holds a Lexcel accreditation given by the Law Society and as a result faces a vigorous 2 to 3 day annual audit. In this year’s audit the firm was “highly commended for sustaining a very high level of compliance against the Lexcel Standard”. The firm was labeled as “an example of a really good practice, and amongst the very best that the writer (the auditor) has reviewed” in terms of its plans and policies. Together with the firm being told that “Adams Harrison continues to be an extremely well run and extremely well managed Practice”.
The firm has grown and expanded in the last 20 years, almost by double. Jenny services clients’ legal needs across all three of our offices in Sawston, Saffron Walden and Haverhill. Jenny commented: “I thoroughly enjoy the diversity of my role within the firm and the wide range of clients that I am able to assist. I am very proud of Adams Harrison that is the successful firm it is today thanks to the commitment, loyalty and hard work of all our wonderful staff”.
“Here’s to the next 20 years …” was Jenny’s final word.
Adams Harrison staff attended a very successful Careers Fair held at Saffron Walden County High School last ‘night and attach the Certificate of Appreciation that was awarded to us.
Sue Lawton was joined by Emma Laidlaw, Jack Stewart and Matt Darmon and they were able to chat to parents and students about a career in the law and how best to achieve their goal.
Over 90 exhibitors took part and it was very well attended.
Matt Darmon, Jack Stewart and Emma Laidlaw of Adams Harrison at Uttlesford District Careers Fair
Matt Darmon explaining to a prospective law student exactly how he achieved his ambition of becoming a solicitor.
Kelsey Ling (pictured) Adams Harrison’s recently qualified Apprentice joined Sue Lawton at the Haverhill Jobs Fair last Wednesday 3rd October 2018, held at the West Suffolk College in Haverhill.
The event is run by Haverhill Town Council, One Haverhill Partnership, Jobs Centre Plus and West Suffolk College and Adams Harrison were very happy to support.
Kelsey Ling of Adams Harrison at Haverhill jobs fair
There is still a grey area in the UK with regards to Living Wills. These are non-binding documents and a person can put whatever they want in them. They can detail what care they would want if they were to become mentally incapable and can also include religious beliefs, what type of personal care they would want, and the people they would want to look after them.
Quite often, a copy of a Living Will is placed with an ordinary Will and also with the person’s GP. If there is a Living Will in place then any medical team should take it into account even though it is not legally binding.
An alternative would be to make a document called an “Advanced Decision” or an “Advanced Directive”. These documents must be written and signed and witnessed. They can contain instructions to refuse treatment. When making such a document, the person needs to be fully compos mentis and clear as to what they wish to achieve from the document. For example, it may say that the person would wish to refuse pain relief, interventions, needles etc. However, one should bear in mind that specific treatment cannot be requested and it is not possible to override a medical professional’s opinion.
Under Section 24-26 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Advanced Decisions can only refuse treatment. One of the criteria provides that no illegal actions, for example attempted or assisted suicide, can be included in the document. Understandably, it is illegal to assist anybody with suicide and if a person is believed to have encouraged or assisted another, then it is a crime and subject to 14 years imprisonment. Prosecution is more likely if a person is under the age of 18 years or if the assister has been paid.
An Advanced Care Plan is a central record of documents usually put into place by a hospital or care home. These are often put in place for a person who is terminally ill.
Palliative Care is for quality of life and life threatening illnesses. Again, these Plans can be put into place for end of life care or if a person is likely to die within 12 months of being diagnosed.
Whichever Plan is put into place, care should be taken when writing them. For example, a person may say that if they are diagnosed with Cancer he/she does not want to be treated. At the time of writing the Plan the person may not have Cancer but, say, in 5 years time, he/she has developed Cancer and has since married and has children, then these are totally different circumstances and he/she may not have the mental capacity to change the original Plan. Therefore, Living Wills or Advanced Decisions should be reviewed every few years to reflect circumstances and medical views.
A Lasting Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare is more flexible for planning and may be a better way of expressing wishes should a person become mentally incapable although, again, care must be taken as to the instructions contained in the document.
If a person lacks mental capacity and there is no Lasting Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare in place, then it may be possible to approach the Court of Protection for a Deputyship Order. However, the Court of Protection are reluctant to grant these types of Orders and may only do so when a series of decisions need to be made and it is the only way they can be dealt with.
For legal advice in completing Lasting Powers of Attorney for Health and Welfare or for Deputyship Orders, please contact one of the Private Client Department team at Adams Harrison.
Following on from my previous article Changes to Section 21 Notice which was implemented by the Deregulation Act. These changes first came into effect on 1st October 2015 but only for tenancies which started or were renewed for new fixed terms after that date. Therefore we have been in a transition period for tenancies which pre-dated 1st October 2015. This transition period came to an end on 1st October 2018 and from that date the changes made by the Act will apply to all Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs). However, not all the changes will apply especially to tenancies which pre-dated 1st October 2015.
Section 39 which requires the Landlord to serve the how to rent checklist at the start of the tenancy does not apply to tenancies pre 1st October 2015 according to Section 41. One area that requires clarification is whether pre 1st October 2015 tenancies require the landlord to serve the the tenant with the prescribed requirements of a Energy Performance Certificate and Gas Safety Certificate. This is the provision that has caused landlords the most difficulty since the Deregulation Act came into force. The Deregulation Act states that this provision will apply to any AST in existence at the time from 1st October 2018. However, the 2015 Regulations which specify the prescribed requirements expressly state that they only apply to ASTs granted on or after 1st October 2015 and not to statutory periodic tenancies that came into being on or after 1st October 2015 at the end of an AST granted before that date. It therefore seems that until new regulations are passed to clarify this position, there are no prescribed requirements in existence applicable to old tenancies.
However In a recent appeal from a county court decision, in the case of Caridon Property Ltd v Monty Shooltz, it has been held that the previous gas safety record of a property will need to be served on a new tenant before they commence the tenancy, otherwise any subsequent section 21 notice served against them will be invalid. It remains to be seen whether this case will be appealed further but the decision is likely to have significant ramification on landlords until this matter is decided further or changes are made to the current legislation.
Although changes have been made to assist Landlords in making the section 21 procedure more straightforward, as can be seen it still remains a difficult area to get right in serving a valid section 21 notice. If you are unsure or require further advice on these changes and how they can affect you please contact Anton Bilinski who is able to guide you through these changes and act for you when a landlord or tenant dispute arises.
Haverhill’s triathlon festival returned for its fifth year, with a record 162 athletes competing across three types of sport and five races in and around the town.
HaverTri – the Adams Harrison Triathlon Festival was held on Sunday 7 October at Haverhill Leisure Centre, again in aid of Haverhill Scouts and Guides.
The HaverSports’ race saw athletes swimming in the leisure centre, before cycling through the nearby Essex villages, and finishing with a run along Haverhill’s historic railway line.
Winning the sprint triathlon in a time of one hour five minutes 53 seconds was Ben Redman, with the first woman home Emma Elston in one hour 20 minutes 29 seconds. Going double the distance in the Sprint+ race, Craig Warriner was first across the line in two hours 13 minutes 38 seconds, with the leading lady Emma Duncan in 32 minutes 23 seconds.
Skipping the pool for the duathlon (run – bike – run), Jason Elrick won the Sprint race in one hour 39 minutes 27 seconds, while Orla Devaney was the women’s winner one 57 minutes one second. Doubling up for the Sprint+, Craig Stewart won the day in two hours 35 minutes 56 seconds, with the first female Polly Wells in three hours 26 minutes 58 seconds.
Some 20 youngsters also competed in the aquathlon (swim and run, for ages eight and above), as the town’s triathletes of tomorrow were put through their paces.
“It was fantastic to see our biggest number of triathletes to date competing in around Haverhill, with town athletes mixing with those coming from across the region to experience racing here. It’s particularly pleasing to see so many of the younger aspiring athletes taking part, and coupled with the wide range of ages and abilities we had competing shows that our events really are suitable for all. We hope the support we experienced here today is reflected in people now coming to close their race season with us at the St Eds’ Running Festival in Moreton Hall, Bury St Edmunds, on Sunday 28 October.”
said HaverSports director Jack Tappin.
Rhodri Rees, senior partner at Adams Harrison Solicitors, said:
“We believe in supporting events in our community, while encouraging people to keep fit and contributing to important charities in the town. HaverTri is a good way for us to show our support in Haverhill and to continue to support these important sectors in the town.”
Duncan Batty, Group Scout Leader of 1st Haverhill Scouts, said:
“This annual events helps to contribute towards the funds we need for a new hut so the youth of Haverhill can continue to benefit from Scouting and Guiding. It also allows us to get involved in the community and show our support for people competing and keeping fit.”
Information about all HaverSports’ events is available at http://www.haversports.com/
You can see the full results here: http://racetimingsolutions.racetecresults.com/Results.aspx?CId=16269&RId=973&EId=4
You can get full details on St Eds’ Running Festival and enter here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/st-eds-running-festival-2018-tickets-46934374979
To provide support for St. Nicholas Hospice, Admas Harrison Staff took part in “Will Week” where wills were prepared for no fee and clients were asked to make donations to the hospice.
In total £2185.00 has been donated to the hospice.
Thank you to everyone that took part in the Macmillan Coffee Morning/Cake Sale – to everyone that provided the delicious cakes and savouries and everyone that donated money. Together we raised £83.77.
Emma has chosen Macmillan as the charity to support from the Bake Off earlier in the year, which raised £142.08.
This takes the total we have raised for Macmillan to £230.45 – a fantastic amount for a very worthwhile charity.
