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1. Introduction
This guide sets out the different forms of electronic signatures which HM Land Registry can accept and the documents in respect of which they can be used.
This guide is NOT concerned with electronic signatures that are used in documents creating interests which are only going to be the subject of a unilateral or agreed notice: we can proceed with the application for the entry of the notice regardless of the form of electronic signature used.
Where an electronic signature is used for a deed, see [practice guide 8: execution of deeds](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/execution-of-deeds) for details of the attestation clauses required, which will be the same whether ‘wet ink’ or electronic signatures are used.
[Qualified Electronic Signatures](#qualified) deals with Qualified Electronic Signatures (QESs). Using a QES is a condition for creating “dispositionary documents”, which is the term we use for documents that can effect dispositions of a legal estate but which are not deeds. When we refer to QESs for land registration purposes, we mean using them to sign these particular documents, and so they need to be considered separately from the other forms of electronic signature. We intend shortly to replace most of Section 8 with a new Practice Guide dedicated to dispositionary documents (and QESs).
In this guide, ‘conveyancer’ has the meaning given by rule 217A of the Land Registration Rules 2003 and ‘individually regulated conveyancer’ means an individual described in paragraph (2)(a) or (b) of that rule, and so includes solicitors, barristers, licensed conveyancers and CILEx Conveyancing Practitioners. Broadly speaking, therefore, an individually regulated conveyancer’s firm or employer will be a conveyancer, and anything required in this guide to be done by a conveyancer, as opposed to an individually regulated conveyancer, can be done by any member of the conveyancer’s staff.
Full captured verbatim text
This guide sets out the different forms of electronic signatures which HM Land Registry can accept and the documents in respect of which they can be used. This guide is NOT concerned with electronic signatures that are used in documents creating interests which are only going to be the subject of a unilateral or agreed notice: we can proceed with the application for the entry of the notice regardless of the form of electronic signature used. Where an electronic signature is used for a deed, see [practice guide 8: execution of deeds](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/execution-of-deeds) for details of the attestation clauses required, which will be the same whether ‘wet ink’ or electronic signatures are used. [Qualified Electronic Signatures](#qualified) deals with Qualified Electronic Signatures (QESs). Using a QES is a condition for creating “dispositionary documents”, which is the term we use for documents that can effect dispositions of a legal estate but which are not deeds. When we refer to QESs for land registration purposes, we mean using them to sign these particular documents, and so they need to be considered separately from the other forms of electronic signature. We intend shortly to replace most of Section 8 with a new Practice Guide dedicated to dispositionary documents (and QESs). In this guide, ‘conveyancer’ has the meaning given by rule 217A of the Land Registration Rules 2003 and ‘individually regulated conveyancer’ means an individual described in paragraph (2)(a) or (b) of that rule, and so includes solicitors, barristers, licensed conveyancers and CILEx Conveyancing Practitioners. Broadly speaking, therefore, an individually regulated conveyancer’s firm or employer will be a conveyancer, and anything required in this guide to be done by a conveyancer, as opposed to an individually regulated conveyancer, can be done by any member of the conveyancer’s staff.