Captured source text (L5)
3.3.1 Mistake discovered before the application is lodged with HM Land Registry
When any document has been signed electronically, there is necessarily no paper document that can be amended to correct mistakes. In situations where a manuscript amendment might have been considered for a paper deed, there are two options.
The first option is for a copy of the executed electronic deed to be printed out and amendments made to this print-out. The print-out should have an endorsement added at the start reading along these lines: “The electronic deed of which this is a print-out is amended this day \[date\] as follows.”
If a party has not consented to an amendment and the amendment is ‘material’, it is unenforceable as against that party. Hence, with material amendments, the amendments must be countersigned by the parties. An amendment is material if it is ‘potentially prejudicial to \[a party’s\] legal rights or obligations under the instrument’ (Raiffeisen Zentralbank v Crossseas Shipping \[2000\] 1 WLR 1135).
If an amendment is not material, the endorsed print-out need only be amended by an individually regulated conveyancer acting for one of the parties and adding their signature, full name and the name of their firm or employer. (Where there is more than one amendment, the conveyancer need only follow their signature with their full name and the name of their firm or employer once.) We will assume amendments have been done with the consent of all the parties to the deed and will place reliance on this. An amendment is not material if it has “rendered express, or had no effect upon, in the sense of adding nothing to, what the law would otherwise provide or imply” or it “merely corrects \[an\] error in description in accordance with the original intention” (Raiffeisen Zentralbank, above).
If it is unclear whether an amendment is material, the prudent approach would be to proceed on the basis that it is and have the amendment countersigned by the parties.
A copy of the electronic deed as finalised in the platform and the endorsed print-out, combined as a single document, is then uploaded with the application. The lodging conveyancer should click on the certification “I/We certify this attachment is a true copy of the original” if they hold the original endorsed print-out; they should click on the certification “I/We certify this attachment is a true copy of a document which is certified by a conveyancer to be a true copy of the original” if another conveyancer in the transaction holds the original signed and endorsed print-out and has sent the lodging conveyancer a copy which they – the other conveyancer – has certified to be a true copy.
The second option, whether the amendment is material or immaterial, is for the parties to execute a deed of rectification or variation. However, this second option will not be effective if the amendment is intended to add additional land that was not transferred by a transfer or demised by a prescribed clauses lease. In this case, the first option must be used (or the parties must execute a second transfer in form TR1 or other prescribed form, or second prescribed clauses lease).
Full captured verbatim text
When any document has been signed electronically, there is necessarily no paper document that can be amended to correct mistakes. In situations where a manuscript amendment might have been considered for a paper deed, there are two options. The first option is for a copy of the executed electronic deed to be printed out and amendments made to this print-out. The print-out should have an endorsement added at the start reading along these lines: “The electronic deed of which this is a print-out is amended this day \[date\] as follows.” If a party has not consented to an amendment and the amendment is ‘material’, it is unenforceable as against that party. Hence, with material amendments, the amendments must be countersigned by the parties. An amendment is material if it is ‘potentially prejudicial to \[a party’s\] legal rights or obligations under the instrument’ (Raiffeisen Zentralbank v Crossseas Shipping \[2000\] 1 WLR 1135). If an amendment is not material, the endorsed print-out need only be amended by an individually regulated conveyancer acting for one of the parties and adding their signature, full name and the name of their firm or employer. (Where there is more than one amendment, the conveyancer need only follow their signature with their full name and the name of their firm or employer once.) We will assume amendments have been done with the consent of all the parties to the deed and will place reliance on this. An amendment is not material if it has “rendered express, or had no effect upon, in the sense of adding nothing to, what the law would otherwise provide or imply” or it “merely corrects \[an\] error in description in accordance with the original intention” (Raiffeisen Zentralbank, above). If it is unclear whether an amendment is material, the prudent approach would be to proceed on the basis that it is and have the amendment countersigned by the parties. A copy of the electronic deed as finalised in the platform and the endorsed print-out, combined as a single document, is then uploaded with the application. The lodging conveyancer should click on the certification “I/We certify this attachment is a true copy of the original” if they hold the original endorsed print-out; they should click on the certification “I/We certify this attachment is a true copy of a document which is certified by a conveyancer to be a true copy of the original” if another conveyancer in the transaction holds the original signed and endorsed print-out and has sent the lodging conveyancer a copy which they – the other conveyancer – has certified to be a true copy. The second option, whether the amendment is material or immaterial, is for the parties to execute a deed of rectification or variation. However, this second option will not be effective if the amendment is intended to add additional land that was not transferred by a transfer or demised by a prescribed clauses lease. In this case, the first option must be used (or the parties must execute a second transfer in form TR1 or other prescribed form, or second prescribed clauses lease).