Pre-action protocol meaning

Use this checklist when representing the seller in the disposal of a registered freehold residential property, whether offered with vacant possession or burdened by a lease or multiple leases. It is not comprehensive and will not address every eventuality in every transaction. You should always consider if there are additional matters that require attention. It does not purport to be a complete guide for every case. Preliminary matters Have you taken instructions from the client? Robust due diligence and effective transaction management depend on a clear grasp of the seller’s objectives and the proposed sale terms. Obtain full instructions, and clarify any elements of your brief that are unclear or out of the ordinary. Consider whether further specialist input is required; for example, planning advice where completion is conditional upon planning permission being secured. The table below sets out some of the principal points on which instructions should be obtained at the outset. This list is not comprehensive, and you may need to request information about additional...

STOP PRESS The Loan Market Association (LMA) has released refreshed editions of the standard terms and conditions for Par and Distressed Trade Transactions, the complete set of Funded Participation and Risk Participation Agreements, and the Secondary Debt Trading Documentation User Guide, with effect from 17 March 2026. The changes remove LIBOR references, update IBOR rate definitions and the Target2 definition, and revise ERISA representations to incorporate additional exemptions to the prohibited transaction rules under ERISA and the US Internal Revenue Code. The revised documentation is available exclusively to LMA members, accessible via the LMA’s Documentation Hub. These publications are updated versions issued by the LMA. Summary A core principle of trading under the LMA protocol is that ‘Trade is a Trade’; i.e. once a trade is struck—including an oral contract agreed by telephone—it is binding, and subsequent developments, even if adverse to one or both parties, do not entitle either party to cancel or ‘break’ the trade. By way of example, a failure to secure consent for...

Note: As of 1 October 2023, the CPR has been updated to broaden the scope of fixed recoverable costs. These changes apply where the cause of action arises on or after 1 October 2023 (typically the accident date). For the version of Part 45 that applied before 1 October 2023, see: Can more than fixed costs be recovered? London weighting A 12.5% uplift to fixed costs applies if the claimant resides or works, and the instructed solicitor practises, within one of the London areas identified in CPR 45. Other circumstances For direction on other situations where recovery beyond fixed costs may be possible, see Practice Note: Fixed costs in road traffic accident claims. Children Distinct fixed costs apply to infant approval hearings, known as Type C fixed costs. The schedule for fixed costs under the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents (the RTA protocol) appears at Table 10 in CPR PD 45. See Practice Note: Fixed costs in...

FORTHCOMING CHANGE : The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 obtained Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. For guidance on the Act’s effect on residential tenancies in England, see Practice Note: Renters’ Rights Act 2025—key provisions. This Flowchart outlines how to end an assured (AT) or assured shorthold tenancy (AST) via section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988), including: service of a section 8 notice issuing proceedings the steps in the case leading to an order for possession Where HA 1988 applies, unless the tenant agrees to leave voluntarily, a landlord may recover possession only by using the procedures in HA 1988, sections 8 or 21, obtaining an order for possession and enforcing it. See Practice Note: Assured and assured shorthold tenancies—terminating. The section 8 process is available where the tenant has defaulted on tenancy obligations (for example, failing to pay rent) or the landlord qualifies for possession on another HA 1988, Sch 2 ground, whether during a fixed...

What are the restrictions on alterations and when is landlord's consent required? During any due diligence on acquiring a head lease, it is vital to assess the tenant’s scope to carry out alterations. Clauses that are overly restrictive can materially reduce value, obstruct a purchaser’s ability to raise finance, to let, to dispose of its interest in future, or otherwise deal with it, and can also present a continuing property management burden...

This Flowchart explains when exactly a creditor may commence action against a debtor once a letter of claim has been issued in line with the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims (the Protocol)...

In this issue A review of key cases in 2025 Decision to prosecute and alternatives to prosecution Criminal procedure and evidence Proceeds of crime Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information A review of key cases in 2025 Headline corporate crime matters in 2025 included the UK Supreme Court overturning the convictions of two traders jailed for rate manipulation; the anti-fraud agency deploying a seldom‑used legal power to recover criminal cash; and the first conviction for sanctions breaches. See News Analysis: The biggest financial crime cases of 2025. Decision to prosecute and alternatives to prosecution SFO compliance guide highlights early remediation is key On 26 November 2025, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO)...

Note: the CPRC has ceased distributing the supporting background papers alongside the minutes; accordingly, this News Analysis does not include documents elucidating the topics considered. A copy of the minutes can be found here: Minutes of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee. Welcome, action log and matters arising (item 1) The minutes of the 5 July meeting were formally approved and the action log was noted—see News Analysis: Minutes of the CPR Committee meeting—5 July 2024. The following items were considered: Ryan Morris v Williams & Co Solicitors [2024] EWCA Civ 376—the matter had previously been covered under item 4 in the Minutes of the CPR Committee meeting—held 5 July 2024...

PI & Clinical Negligence weekly highlights—13 February 2025 In this issue: CPR updates Public authorities and the state Clinical negligence Employer’s liability Other PI and Clinical negligence news New content LexTalk®PI & Clinical Negligence: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Useful information CPR updates 179th Practice Direction update and pre-action protocol update—in force 22 January 2025 and 6 April 2025 The 179th Practice Direction (PD) update takes effect on 6 April 2025. The Master of the Rolls and the Courts Minister have signed the Practice Direction Update, which sets out a series of amendments in support of the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2025, SI 2025/106...

This Practice Note examines enquiries before contract—also referred to as pre-contract enquiries, preliminary enquiries or standard enquiries—within residential conveyancing transactions. It proceeds on the basis that the parties have adopted the Law Society Conveyancing Protocol (2019) (the Protocol) and that the buyer’s conveyancer is additionally acting for a lender in line with the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook (the UKFML Handbook) or the Building Societies Association Mortgage Instructions (the BSA Instructions). See Practice Notes: The Law Society’s Conveyancing Protocol and Lenders' instructions—the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook and the Building Societies Association Mortgage Instructions. Why raise enquiries? At common law, the guiding doctrine is ‘caveat emptor’—‘let the buyer beware’—so a seller has only a limited duty to disclose information about the property. It is principally for the buyer to ensure they understand what they are purchasing, including the nature of the property and any rights or liabilities that may attach to it. Accordingly, a buyer’s conveyancer raises enquiries before contract to secure information about the property...

PI & Clinical negligence horizon scanner—July 2025 [Archived] ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is not maintained. It summarises the principal legal developments relevant to personal injury and clinical negligence practitioners as at July 2025. For developments predating this horizon scanner, see PI and Clinical Negligence horizon scanning and key cases—overview. Key PI and clinical negligence developments The personal injury discount rate—a review In late 2024, the Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood MP, revealed the outcome of her five‑month review of the discount rate, initiated in July 2024. One month after the new +0.5% discount rate took effect, Thea Wilson (barrister at 12 King’s Bench Walk) assesses its impact on cases, the responses from claimant and defendant representatives, and the consequences of the change for legal practitioners. See News Analysis: The personal injury discount rate—a review. MoJ announces reduction in CFO’s interest rates The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced lower interest rates for the Courts Funds Office’s (CFO) special and basic accounts...

ARCHIVED This archived Practice Note is not maintained and is provided solely for background purposes. Please note that some links may no longer point to the provisions as they stood when this guidance was issued and originally published. For details of earlier and later amendments to the CPR, see: CPR updates—overview and Procedure Rule Committee minutes—overview. Agenda and minutes The draft agenda for the CPR Committee (CPRC) open meeting on 11 May 2018 is available here: The agreed minutes can also be found here: The meeting was presided over by Mr Justice Coulson, while Sir Terence Etherton delivered the opening remarks, expressly noting the breadth of the CPRC’s work and the considerable success of its open meetings (which have been held since June 2006). Membership (Agenda item 3) It was noted that: District Judge Lethem will continue to serve a further term on the CPRC a new barrister member will be appointed to replace Mr Johnathan Klein Ms Kate Wellington,...

[ On the headed notepaper of the creditor’s solicitors ] Our ref: [ insert ] FAO [ Insert name ] [ Name of debtor’s solicitors ] [ Address line 1 ] [ Address line 2 ] [ Postcode ] [ Date ] Dear [ insert name ] [ Insert creditor’s name ] AND [ insert debtor’s name ] Letter of claim We refer to our letters of [ insert date(s) ] regarding the above issue concerning [ insert brief details ]. Notwithstanding the requests within that correspondence, our client remains unpaid for the outstanding payment [ s ] identified below. Accordingly, this constitutes our client’s letter of claim, issued pursuant to the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims (the Protocol). We set out below details of our client’s claim and enclose copies of the principal documents. We also enclose a copy of the Protocol for your reference, together with the required Information Sheet, Reply Form and Standard Financial Statement. [...

[ ON THE HEADED NOTEPAPER OF CLAIMANT’S SOLICITORS ] FAO [ [ APPROPRIATE DIRECTOR ] ] [ NAME OF DEFENDANT BROKER ] [ ADDRESS LINE 1 ] [ ADDRESS LINE 2 ] [ POSTCODE ] [ DATE ] Dear [ insert organisation name ] [ PROSPECTIVE CLAIMANT’S NAME ] AND [ PROSPECTIVE DEFENDANT’S NAME ] Preliminary notice of claim We act for and represent our client [ insert client’s name ]...

[ To be printed on the claimant solicitors’ headed paper ] Our reference: [ insert your file reference for this matter ] FAO: [ CLIENT PARTNER OR SENIOR PARTNER ] [ NAME OF DEFENDANT FIRM ] [ ADDRESS LINE 1 ] [ ADDRESS LINE 2 ] [ POSTCODE ] [ DATE ] Dear [ insert name ] [ PROSPECTIVE CLAIMANT’S NAME ] AND [ PROSPECTIVE DEFENDANT’S NAME ] LETTER OF CLAIM [ We refer again to our correspondence dated [ insert date of your preliminary notice of claim, if sent ]. That correspondence comprised a preliminary notice of claim issued under the Pre-Action Protocol for Professional Negligence and required an acknowledgement by [ insert date ]. ] [ We note receipt of your letter dated [ insert date ] acknowledging receipt of the preliminary notice. [ That said, we still await confirmation that your professional insurers have been notified of the circumstances of our...

Damages After the lease ends, a landlord’s terminal dilapidations claim lies in damages. The recoverable sum is determined by common law rules for assessing loss arising from breach of the repairing covenant, but is curtailed by the statutory ceiling in section 18(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 (LTA 1927). At common law, the benchmark for disrepair is the reasonable expenditure required to restore the premises to the condition they should have been in at the point of lease expiry. The claim for damages may, in addition, encompass foreseeable knock-on losses, including rent foregone during any period when the state of disrepair prevents the property being relet...

We have been unable to locate any case law on the exact matter raised in your query at this time. Nevertheless, please kindly consider the following further details, which you may find helpful. When the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims (the Protocol) applies The Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims (effective from 1 October 2017) is engaged when a business—such as a sole trader or public body—seeks recovery of a debt from an individual, including a sole trader. It is inapplicable to business-to-business debts except where the debtor is a sole trader (Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, para 1.1)...

Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims The Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims (the Protocol) took effect on 1 October 2017. When the Protocol applies, the court expects parties to adhere to its requirements before issuing a claim, and will factor in any failure when setting directions for the conduct of any later proceedings (see paragraph 7 of the Protocol). There are no transitional arrangements within the Protocol. Refer to: Precedent: Letter of claim—contractual debt claim—in compliance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims; and Practice Notes: The pre-action protocols and when they apply, and Debt claims and pre-action conduct...