News feature
CILEx urges government to follow HMLR’s lead on powers of attorney
CILEx welcomed HM Land Registry’s (HMLR’s) decision to accept copies of lasting powers of attorney (PoAs) certified by CILEx Lawyers and called for a change in the law to make this permanent and applied in ‘other areas of government and the justice system’. The Powers of Attorney Act 1971 only allows solicitors and notaries public to certify copies; however, HMLR says that it will accept them from CILEx Lawyers for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. CILEx has long maintained that there is no reason for the distinction, and a survey of members practising wills and probate law shows that it causes them a problem an average of 10 times every month. The research also found that being unable to certify copies had a negative effect on firms’ quality of service (75% of respondents said that it caused delays) as well as on client satisfaction and fees.
As one respondent said: ‘My clients do not understand why I cannot offer this service myself. If I am qualified to act as a certificate provider and also to prepare the lasting power of attorney, then why am I not able to certify that a document is a true copy of an original document that I have already prepared?’
Another observed: ‘We can now become partners of law firms, have rights of audience in the courts, become judges, swear oaths as a Commissioner for Oaths, but we cannot certify a lasting power of attorney as a true copy of a page of the original document?’
Several respondents reported how, depending on where they worked, it could be difficult to find a solicitor willing and able to certify copies in a timely manner. One explained how a PoA had to be sent to another office of the firm, meaning a delay of up to a week.
CILEx Chair Chris Bones says: ‘We strongly welcome the Land Registry’s move and hope it will become permanent. It is showing justified conÿdence in the competence and qualifications of CILEx Lawyers, and we urge the government to take measures to make this a permanent arrangement.
‘Modernising practice in this way helps ensure affordable and timely access to legal services, particularly for the more than one million people especially susceptible to COVID-19. Our research shows how this outdated legislation is causing real people real problems in an environment where concerns are already accentuated by the current pandemic.
‘Removing such an illogical constraint to release more than 3,000 CILEx Lawyers to meet the needs of vulnerable people can only be a good thing, and we urge other areas of government and the justice system to follow the Land Registry’s example.’