New version - Scottish Standard Clauses

Written by Struan Ferguson, Partner at Blackwood & Smith LLP

A new version of the Scottish Standard Clauses has been released by the Scottish Conveyancers Forum.

The Scottish Standard Clauses forms part of the missives in the vast majority of residential sales and purchases in Scotland. This latest version is the 6^th Edition of the Scottish Standard Clauses.

The Scottish Conveyancers Forum have suggested that the new Edition be used from the new year, although need not replace the previous Edition on transactions which are already underway.

Notable changes include:

• The removal of any warranty for appliances included in a sale/purchase. Previous editions of the Scottish Standard Clauses, and their predecessors, included a warranty by a seller that appliances (alongside central heating and systems) in a property be in working order at settlement, but in recent years this warranty has – as a matter of practice – been deleted in most transactions, to the point that it has become standard practice for this warranty to be restricted only to central heating and systems. The Standard Clauses have been updated to reflect current practice.
• Reference to ‘infestation’ within the seller’s warranties has been tightened and clarified to take into account recent case law.
• Professional Consultants Certificates or Architects Supervision Certificates are no longer referred to in the New Home Warranty Schemes clause. In light of recent case law, it was felt that these should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
• A clause dealing with the Register of Overseas Entities has been added.
• The limitation of claims amount has been increased to £500, the first increase since 2018.

As with previous editions, Edition 6 of the Scottish Standard Clauses has been released alongside a suite of supporting documents:

• A briefing note summarising the changes made;
• A Client Guide;
• A Practitioner Guide; and
• A checklist to assist solicitors/paralegals in taking instructions on the Standard Clauses.

All of the documentation can be downloaded from the Scottish Conveyancers Forum website here: Downloads - Scottish Conveyancers Forum.