23 Jan 2025

City of London Law Society launches Fifth Edition of Key Real Estate Document, the Short Form Report on Title

The Land Law Committee of the City of London Law Society (CLLS) – the professional representative body for solicitors and law firms in the City of London – has today launched the fifth edition of its Short Form Report on Title.

The CLLS Short Form Report on Title has become an industry standard for a wide range of property and lending deals. The fifth edition is a new iteration of the previous 2018 edition, and reflects changes that were incorporated into the current edition of the more comprehensive CLLS Certificate of Title, as well as ensuring the report remains in line with current common practice.

It is intended to be used in the same circumstances as its predecessor, for example where the commercial motivation for the transaction is not property-based and title to property issues are only a secondary consideration, or where the equity value of the property is minimal. The new edition also includes more specific treatment for cases where there is a purchase of the shares in the company that owns the relevant property.

Jackie Newstead, Chair of the CLLS Land Law Committee and Partner at Hogan Lovells, said: “The Committee is pleased to launch an updated version of the Report on Title, which it hopes will be a useful document for use where more limited property due diligence only is required, rather than a full Certificate of Title or Wrapper Report. This brings up to date the full suite of reporting templates available on the CLLS website.”

At the same time as the launch of this new Short Form Report on Title, the CLLS Land Law Committee has also published minor 2025 updates to its Certificate of Title and Wrapper documents. These documents are now also available on the CLLS website (under 'Certificate of Title').

NOTES TO EDITORS

The City of London Law Society is the professional representative body for solicitors and law firms in the City of London, including all the largest national and international practitioners. Its membership takes in more than 21,000 solicitors and 67 corporate member firms.

For media enquiries, please contact George Kyrke-Smith on +447834658631 or [email protected].

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