The Law Society of England and Wales have confirmed conveyancers and property lawyers can continue to use both the 4th and 5th edition of the TA6 Property Information protocol form beyond the current 15th January 2025 deadline.
Following uproar at the introduction of the updated form, in June the Law Society confirmed the proposed mandatory implementation due on 25th June would be postponed until 15th January 2025; in the interim both the 4th edition, and 5th edition would be acceptable under the CQS protocol.
In a statement released today (Wednesday 6th November) The Law Society have extended the deadline for an as yet undetermined period to enable the current consultation to “(work) through the volumes of feedback… collected during this process and…give it all thorough consideration” said CEO Ian Jeffery.
“I would like to thank our members for engaging so positively with this extensive consultation,”
added Jeffery
“It has become clear that January next year is not a realistic date by which to analyse all the evidence and take the next steps to ensure we have the best outcome possible. We have therefore decided to extend the period that both forms can be used until we have completed that work.”
The consultation was launched in July after the requisite number of signatures was collated to force the society to host a Special General Meeting at which a vote of no confidence in CEO Jeffery, and President Nick Emmerson, was proposed. Both prevailed with 123 votes in favour, 207 against, and 20 abstained votes but the sentiment was clear as the profession had its say on the imposition of the updated form which extended the obligations to collect material information, and doubled the length of the form to 32 pages.
In the time since, the independent consultation, run by 2CV, has sought the opinions of the 1200 conveyancers who signed up to take part which has included a survey, in-depth interviews, research-led group discussions, workshops and roundtables. Two deep dive webinars are available to review online now.
A further update will be provided in the New Year by the Law Society.
