Explore every episode of the podcast SQE1 Prep — The Audio Course

A newspaper says the Supreme Court has struck down an Act of Parliament; your client's licence depends on whether that can be true.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Civil courts, the four tracks, and the three High Court divisions
• Offence classification decides the court, and the either-way election is the defendant's
• Supreme Court powers, and why a declaration of incompatibility changes nothing
• Tribunals, judicial independence, and the partial separation of powers
• Who regulates whom, and when to settle out of court

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A Court of Appeal ruling matches your client's case almost exactly, and the one fact that differs is why the judge can decide against him.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Vertical and horizontal stare decisis, and which courts bind which
• Ratio binds, obiter persuades, and how to tell them apart
• The Practice Statement 1966 and when the Supreme Court departs
• The three Young v Bristol Aeroplane Co exceptions, per incuriam included
• Overruling, distinguishing, reversing and disapproving, kept apart

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

The law writes terms into your contract that nobody agreed to, and then refuses to let you write them out again.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Necessity implies a term in fact; reasonableness never does
• Terms implied in law attach to a type of relationship
• Sale of Goods Act for businesses, Consumer Rights Act for consumers
• Exemption clauses face incorporation, then construction, then statutory validity
• Death or personal injury by negligence can never be excluded

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

Your landlord client has a forfeiture clause, a tenant plainly in breach, a notice already served and proceedings already issued, and he has still got it wrong.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Six ways a lease ends, and when each one applies
• Forfeiture needs a clause in the lease, or it does not exist
• Waiver, and how a rent demand throws the remedy away
• What a s.146 notice must say, and when none is needed
• Relief against forfeiture, and the CRAR rent route

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

Four weeks after exchange a fire guts the cottage, nobody had insured it, and the buyer still has to pay the full price.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Five stages: pre-contract, exchange, pre-completion, completion, post-completion
• Nothing binds until exchange, and everything changes at exchange
• Section 2: one document, all the terms, both signatures
• Legal title passes on registration, not on completion
• Positive covenants are the reason almost every flat is leasehold

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A trainee reads two of the three registers, reports that the title is clear, and misses the covenant that destroys the reason her client is buying.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Three registers: what is sold, who owns it, what burdens it
• Red edging is a general boundary, not a surveyed line
• A good root of title must be at least fifteen years old
• Restrictive covenant burdens run with the land; positive ones do not
• Overriding interests bind although nothing appears on the register

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

The local authority search came back completely clear, and it still tells her nothing at all about the field she is buying the house for.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• The local authority search covers the property, not the neighbourhood
• CON29 is answered as standard; CON29O only if you ask
• Footpaths and village greens sit in the optional half
• The drainage search covers public sewers, never private drainage
• The Protocol is preferred practice with one period in it

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

Your client asks you not to mention to the bank that his deposit is really a loan, and you act for the bank as well.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• You act for both because the interests align, not despite a conflict
• Report anything material to the lender's decision to lend
• Registered charges rank by the register, not by creation
• A retention has to be bridged by the borrower
• Advising which mortgage to take is a regulated activity

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A buyer who has not yet got the keys can watch the house burn down and still have to pay the full price for what is left of it.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Risk passes to the buyer on exchange, and the seller need not insure
• The deposit is held by the seller's conveyancer as stakeholder
• Title guarantee turns on the seller, not on freehold or leasehold
• Every Law Society formula binds the parties on the telephone call
• A contract for land needs writing, all terms, and both signatures

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

Your client has the keys, has moved in, and finds the seller's name still on the register three weeks later.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• A transfer of registered land operates at law only on registration
• The priority search buys 30 business days for your own application
• A signed transfer takes effect on delivery at completion, not on signature
• File and pay the land transaction return within 14 days of completion
• Vacant possession means free of chattels that substantially interfere

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A seller serves a notice to complete on his late buyer, then gets an offer £15,000 higher from the neighbour, and discovers that his own notice has trapped him.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Time is not of the essence unless the contract says so
• Compensation is paid by whoever was in default the longer
• Ten working days on a notice, and only if you are ready yourself
• A notice makes time of the essence for both parties, not one
• Forfeit the deposit, but give credit and expect no five per cent cap

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A document headed licence on every page, describing him as a licensee, saying it creates no tenancy, and it is a lease.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Exclusive possession, a term and rent make a lease, whatever the label
• Which leases need a deed, and which need registering
• Put and keep in repair is two obligations, not one
• Rent review, service charge, alienation, break and forfeiture
• The Code for Leasing Business Premises is not wholly voluntary

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A tenant grants what he calls an underlease, goes on thinking of himself as the landlord, and has in fact assigned his lease and left.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Deed for more than three years, registration for more than seven
• An agreement for lease binds the moment it is signed
• Tax on the premium and on the rent's net present value
• Fourteen days for the return, and nobody can extend it
• Keep a reversion or the underlease is an assignment

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A crane sits idle for seven weeks, the builder writes ending the hire, and that letter turns out to be the more expensive mistake.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Conditions terminate, warranties pay damages, innominate terms depend on the breach
• Sale of Goods Act conditions, and the Consumer Rights Act tiered remedies
• Interpretation is objective, negotiations are excluded, clear words usually win
• Rectification corrects the document, not the bargain it records
• Variation needs consideration, and no oral modification clauses work

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A tenant loses patience with a slow landlord, completes the assignment anyway, and discovers it has given away the lease but kept the liability.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Assignment transfers the whole residue; underletting keeps you in the chain
• Qualified covenants attract the reasonableness proviso; absolute ones do not
• Assigning in breach is effective, but costs you the statutory release
• An authorised guarantee covers the immediate assignee only
• Fixed charges need a prescribed notice within six months

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

Everything is agreed, the landlord's costs are paid, and completing before the licence arrives would cost the tenant a release it can never get back.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Absolute, qualified or fully qualified decides everything else
• What the 1988 Act makes a landlord do, and how fast
• The release on assignment is automatic; the guarantee is not
• Guarantors, section 25, and the lawful sub-guarantee
• An underlease for the whole residue is an assignment

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

He assigned the lease before the millennium, and the demand for £42,000 has just landed on his mat.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Check the lease date first; 1 January 1996 decides the regime
• An AGA guarantees one assignee and dies on the next assignment
• A fixed charge needs a notice within six months of falling due
• Underletting is not assignment, so the tenant stays liable
• A self-help repair claim is a debt, escaping the statutory cap

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A cracked window frame worth a hundred and fifty pounds cost a company its entire escape from a lease, and the rule that did it is the strictest in property practice.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Four exits: effluxion, surrender, merger, forfeiture
• Surrender needs a deed, or conduct inconsistent with the lease
• Merger turns on intention, not just common ownership
• Section 146 notice for every breach except unpaid rent
• Waiver is fatal to a once-and-for-all breach

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

The solicitor used the prescribed form, served it before the term date, and still destroyed his client's request for a new lease.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Which business tenancies the 1954 Act protects, and which it does not
• Contracting out is void unless the s.38A steps were taken
• The six to twelve month window, and what it runs from
• The seven grounds, and which three carry compensation
• How the court fixes rent, duration and the other terms

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

The furniture works is now an indoor climbing centre, not a brick has been touched, and it still needed planning permission.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Development is operations, or a material change of use
• A change within one use class is not development at all
• Permitted development rights can be taken away three different ways
• Ten years to enforce, for breaches from 25 April 2024
• Planning permission never overrides a private restrictive covenant

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

Completing on the new house before the old one sells adds £25,000 to the tax bill, and every pound of it can come back.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Identify the jurisdiction first: three taxes, three filing deadlines
• The additional dwelling surcharge is added to every band
• Exempt and zero-rated differ only on input tax recovery
• Private residence relief is apportioned; the final nine months are deemed
• Report a residential gain within 60 days, whatever self-assessment says

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A gift made in full confidence creates no trust at all, until you read the sentence that follows it.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Intention turns on obligation, not on the word trust
• Precatory words bind only if the instrument as a whole says so
• Segregate tangible goods; identical intangibles need no segregation
• Fixed trusts need a complete list; discretionary trusts need only is or is not
• Only conceptual uncertainty voids a trust, never evidential difficulty

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A father sends off the share transfer forms, the company takes six weeks to register them, and the dividend that lands in the meantime is not his.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Writing for declarations of trust of land, and for disposing of equitable interests
• A trust of personal property can be declared out loud
• Equity will not perfect an imperfect gift, but will not officiously defeat one
• Strong v Bird, deathbed gifts and estoppel rescue volunteers
• Fully secret: communicate before death. Half-secret: before the will

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

Every beneficiary wants the trust wound up, the youngest is sixteen and her mother has agreed on her behalf, and it still cannot be done.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Vested is not the same as absolutely entitled
• Saunders v Vautier needs all three conditions, not just agreement
• Discretionary beneficiaries own nothing until the trustees distribute
• A life tenant and remainderman together cannot end the trust
• A protective trust converts permanently once the trigger fires

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

The dealer says one previous owner, the car has had four, and nothing about owners is in the written agreement, which is exactly why the claim works.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Fact or opinion turns on who was placed to know
• Silence is safe until a half-truth or a changed circumstance
• Investigating defeats inducement; being able to investigate does not
• Section 2(1) reverses the burden and pays on the fraud measure
• Short of fraud, the rescission clock starts at the contract

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A woman funding free sports coaching in the area she grew up in is told her trust cannot be a charity because she has not registered it. She has been told wrong.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Three cumulative tests: exclusively charitable, recognised description, public benefit
• Nothing is presumed; public benefit must be shown
• Poverty escapes the personal nexus rule, not public benefit
• A purpose trust fails unless somebody can enforce it
• General charitable intent matters only on initial failure

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

Six years of paying someone else's mortgage can buy you nothing at all under a resulting trust, while signing the loan on day one buys you a share outright.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• A resulting trust gives effect to the transferor's presumed intention
• Advancement is presumed from a father, never from a mother
• A resulting trust is fixed at acquisition and never grows
• In a jointly owned family home, equity follows the law
• A failed purpose sends the money back on a resulting trust

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

Five years of bills, shopping, cooking and cleaning, and when the relationship ends she owns nothing at all.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• First question always: whose name is on the legal title?
• Joint names start at equal shares, and the burden is heavy
• Sole name needs common intention and detrimental reliance
• Estoppel needs only a one-sided assurance, not a shared intention
• The estoppel remedy normally satisfies expectation, subject to proportionality

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

An auctioneer pays £180,000 of trust money into the trustee's personal account, knowing the deed forbids it, and says he never thought of it as dishonest.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Knowing receipt and dishonest assistance are separate claims with separate elements
• Receipt, unconscionable knowledge at the time, and beneficial receipt
• Assistance needs no receipt of any trust property at all
• Ivey removed the extra subjective limb from the Twinsectra test
• Tracing is a process, never a cause of action on its own

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A trustee acted honestly, took an opportunity nobody else could have taken, and equity still made him hand over every penny.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• The Mothew test for when fiduciary duties arise at all
• No profit, no conflict, no purchase, and why good faith is no defence
• Account of profits against equitable compensation
• Why a constructive trust beats a personal claim on insolvency
• Fiduciary duties are not the same as a trustee's duty of care

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

Six friends are named as trustees of a farm, all six are willing and able, and only four of them are trustees at all.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Four trustees maximum for land, two minimum for a valid receipt
• Saunders v Vautier terminates a trust, it does not appoint trustees
• Duty of care is higher for professionals and for claimed expertise
• Maintenance is income for minors, advancement is capital for anyone
• Investment policy is delegable, distribution decisions are not

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A trustee sells a field at full value, reinvests every penny properly, leaves the fund no worse off, and is still in breach of trust.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• An innocent breach is still a breach; honesty goes to relief
• Equitable compensation needs a causal link, assessed with hindsight
• Exemption clauses cover everything short of actual dishonesty
• Six years from the breach, not from discovery
• No limitation at all for fraud, or for property still held

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

There is £40,000 sitting in the trustee's account, the trust put in £20,000, and the beneficiary can trace neither figure.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Equitable remedies are discretionary; damages are not
• Specific performance, its limits, and the personal services bar
• Compensation repairs a loss, an account strips a gain
• Tracing identifies property; it is not a claim
• Hallett, Oatway, Foskett and Clayton's Case in a mixed account

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

One of the two witnesses never got round to signing, and the man he wanted to provide for takes nothing.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Capacity is tested by Banks v Goodfellow, not the Mental Capacity Act
• Two witnesses together when he signs, each signing in his presence
• Witnesses need not sign in the presence of each other
• A gift to an attesting witness fails, but the will survives
• Spouse takes chattels, the statutory legacy, and half the rest

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A woman loses her legacy because of who her husband was standing next to on the day the will was signed, and she never touched the document herself.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Section 9 formalities, and the two witnesses present together
• A gift to a witness or their spouse is void
• Specific gifts adeem, demonstrative gifts get topped up
• Any number of executors may be appointed, four may prove
• Power reserved is not the same as renunciation

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A rogue buys a car with a cheque that bounces and sells it on before anyone notices, and whether your client ever sees it again turns on a single word.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Void or voidable decides who keeps the goods
• Common mistake must make performance essentially and radically different
• Identity voids a contract; attributes only make it voidable
• Duress and undue influence are voidable, so affirmation destroys the remedy
• Illegality now turns on a range of factors, not a rigid rule

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

He drew a line through his sister's legacy and wrote revoked in the margin, and she is still going to be paid every penny of it.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Alterations after execution need the same formalities as the will
• Crossing out is ignored; obliteration that hides the words revokes
• Destruction needs the act and the intention together
• Marriage revokes the whole will; divorce revokes nothing
• Revival is never automatic, and republication is different

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

She left her sister my estate car, then sold it and bought a hatchback, and the sister ends up with neither.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• The court gives effect to the words used, not to fairness
• Specific gifts adeem; general legacies do not
• Latent ambiguity lets evidence in, and section 21 widens that
• Section 33 saves a lapsed gift only for the testator's descendants
• A class closes when the first member is entitled in possession

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

An executor talks a bank into releasing the account on a copy of the will, pays it all out, and two months later an unpaid invoice arrives with his name on it.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Probate for an available executor, letters of administration otherwise
• Rule 20 orders a grant with the will; rule 22 orders intestacy
• Clearing off comes before anyone lower down can apply
• Excepted estates deliver no account and report on the probate application
• Tax is due six months from the end of the month of death

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

The painting was worth £25,000 when his mother died and £34,000 now, and the executor would very much like to take it at the old figure.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• The statutory order of debts is an insolvency rule only
• A secured creditor stands outside that order altogether
• Appropriation is at the value on the day it is appropriated
• A personal representative answers for his own breach, not automatically a co-representative's
• Section 27 protects against unknown debts, never known ones

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A son who survived his mother by five years after a large gift expects taper relief to save him a fortune, and it saves him nothing at all.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• 40% on death, 36% where a tenth of the net estate goes to charity
• The nil-rate band is £325,000 and transfers between spouses
• Taper reduces the tax on a failed gift, never the gift itself
• A gift inside the band attracts no tax but still uses the band
• Business and agricultural relief share one combined allowance

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A man leaves £50,000 out of a £700,000 estate to the wife he was married to for twenty-five years, and the law measures her by a kinder standard than anyone else who might complain.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Two standards: a spouse is not confined to maintenance, everyone else is
• Six months from the grant of representation, not from the death
• The net estate can be widened to reach survivorship property and lifetime gifts
• A disclaimer refuses a gift; only a variation chooses its destination
• Beneficiaries absolutely entitled together can end the trust

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A bank offers a new firm one account with every deposit tagged as client or firm money, and taking it would be a serious breach.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Client money and office money never share an account
• The client account is not a banking facility
• Reconcile at least every five weeks, keep records six years
• Money in credits the client ledger and debits the client bank
• How the cash book, client ledger and office ledger fit together

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A cheque goes into the wrong account, the wages go out, and the firm discovers it owes far more than the difference.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Client money includes money for your own fees before you bill
• Promptly into the client account, promptly back out
• Bill first, then transfer, and only the billed sum
• Withdraw only if you hold enough for that specific client
• Correct breaches at once, from the firm's own money

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

The client account is comfortably in credit, the court fee is due today, and you still cannot pay it.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Not one pot, but a stack of separate client entitlements
• Withdraw only if sufficient funds are held for that specific client
• A bill must be delivered before client money pays your costs
• Every payment must relate to a regulated service you deliver
• Replace any shortfall from office money immediately

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

The bank pays the firm £9,000 of interest on the client account, the clients are owed £6,400, and the firm keeps the difference lawfully.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Rule 7.1 is the whole duty: account for a fair sum
• The SRA sets no rate, de minimis or minimum period
• Pooled interest is the firm's; designated account interest is the client's
• There is no conveyancing exemption, and no £10,000 threshold
• The fair sum is paid out of office money, not client money

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

A gardener does half the job and walks away, and the law hands him nothing, while a decorator who hangs one strip of wallpaper crooked is paid almost in full.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• The entire obligations rule and its four escape routes
• Substantial performance turns on the size of the defects
• Repudiatory breach gives an election: terminate or affirm
• Frustration is automatic, narrow, and never self-induced
• The 1943 Act adjusts money paid and benefits conferred

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

There is no twenty-four hour rule, and believing in one is how a small overdraft turns into a career problem.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• A breach is a breach whatever you knew or intended
• Reporting turns on materiality, not on any fixed deadline
• Correct a shortage from the firm's own money, promptly
• Never fix one breach by committing another
• A debit balance on a client ledger is a shortage

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

Your client has paid you six thousand pounds and it is all still in the client account, and you still cannot send the completion money.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• The client ledger, not the client account, governs what you may pay
• Credits increase the balance, debits reduce it
• Reconcile at least every five weeks, three ways
• No transfer to office without a bill delivered first
• Principal method charges VAT, agency method does not

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.

Two clients, one pot of money, and a trainee who is certain you need two bank accounts to keep it straight.

Practise this topic with exam-style questions: sqe1prep.co.uk

In this episode:

• Two different things get called a joint account, and only one is rule 9
• The ledger separates client money, not the bank account
• Rule 9 leaves statements and the bills record, and nothing else
• A client's own account is one you operate as signatory
• Money you do not hold never goes on a client ledger

Narrated by an AI voice from a script written and checked by the editors at sqe1prep.co.uk. Educational content only — not legal advice. SQE1 Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SRA or Kaplan.