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PLPFLK2 · 16 topics

SQE1 Property Law and Practice.

Freehold, leasehold, conveyancing, planning, and taxation.

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All 16 topics in Property Law and Practice

SRA-aligned
  1. 01

    Introduction to Freehold Transactions

    Overview of freehold property transactions and conveyancing

    Free
  2. 02

    Investigation of Freehold Title

    Registered and unregistered freehold title investigation

  3. 03

    Pre-Contract Searches and Enquiries

    Searches, enquiries, and Law Society Conveyancing Protocol

  4. 04

    Finance and Acting for Lenders

    Mortgage finance and lender requirements

  5. 05

    Contracts and Exchange

    Contract preparation, special conditions, and exchange

  6. 06

    Pre-Completion, Completion and Post-Completion

    Transfer deeds, searches, completion and post-completion steps

  7. 07

    Remedies for Delayed Completion

    Damages, notice to complete, and rescission

  8. 08

    Lease Structure and Content

    Essential lease clauses and Code for Leasing Business Premises

  9. 09

    Grant of a Lease

    Procedural steps for granting new leases and underleases

  10. 10

    Assignment of Leases

    Lease assignment procedure and authorised guarantee agreements

  11. 11

    Licence to Assign and Underlet

    Licences, privity of contract, and key provisions

  12. 12

    Leasehold Covenants

    Liability on covenants (pre/post 1996) and remedies for breach

  13. 13

    Termination of Leases

    Effluxion of time, surrender, merger, and forfeiture

  14. 14

    Security of Tenure (LTA 1954)

    Business lease renewal, landlord opposition, and compensation

  15. 15

    Planning Law

    Town and country planning, permitted development, and building regulations

  16. 16

    Property Taxation

    SDLT, LTT, VAT, and Capital Gains Tax on property transactions

Try before you buy

4 sample PLP questions

Real SBA questions from the Property Law and Practice bank, with the full explanation. The paid bank covers all 16 topics and difficulty levels.

A woman is buying her first flat for £145,000 and has instructed a solicitor. The solicitor has been sent the draft contract and the seller's title documents. The estate agent has offered to handle "the legal side" himself for a reduced fee, and the woman's lender has instructed its own valuer to inspect the flat. The woman emails her solicitor asking her to check that the flat is worth the asking price, to negotiate a reduction with the agent, and to arrange buildings insurance, saying that she assumes all of this forms part of the conveyancing.

Which of the following tasks is the woman's solicitor retained to carry out?

  1. Investigating the seller's title, raising pre-contract enquiries and registering the transfer after completion. Correct
  2. Negotiating a reduction in the purchase price with the estate agent acting for the seller.
  3. Inspecting the flat for defects and reporting a valuation figure to the woman's lender.
  4. Arranging the woman's buildings insurance and her mortgage finance with a suitable lender.
  5. Confirming that the price is reasonable by comparing recent sale prices in the building.
Why: The correct answer is A. Conveyancing is the legal work of transferring ownership: investigating title, raising pre-contract enquiries, ordering searches, approving the contract, exchanging, completing, and dealing with post-completion formalities such as SDLT and registration. Those are the tasks within the solicitor's retainer. B is incorrect because price negotiation is the estate agent's role, not part of the legal work. C is incorrect because inspection and valuation are for a surveyor; the solicitor does not inspect the property. D is incorrect because insurance and mortgage broking sit outside the conveyancing retainer, although the solicitor will advise on when risk passes and will comply with the lender's instructions. E is incorrect because assessing whether the price is good value is a commercial judgement for the buyer and her surveyor.

A man is buying a house for £215,000 and has instructed his own solicitor. He receives a letter sent directly to him by the solicitor acting for the person selling the house. The letter addresses him as "the Vendor", asks him to send the title deeds to the property so that a contract can be prepared, and asks him to confirm which fixtures and fittings he intends to leave behind. The man has never held any title deeds to the house and is not leaving anything behind.

What has gone wrong in the letter the man has received?

  1. Nothing; the party buying the property is correctly described as the Vendor.
  2. The man is the Purchaser, not the Vendor, and it is the seller who supplies the title deeds. Correct
  3. The man is the Vendor, but it is the buyer's solicitor who supplies the title deeds to the seller.
  4. The terms are interchangeable in a contract of sale, so the description makes no practical difference.
  5. The man is the Purchaser, and the seller's solicitor should therefore be acting for him as well.
Why: The correct answer is B. The vendor is the seller and the purchaser is the buyer. The man is buying, so he is the Purchaser, and it is the seller's solicitor who deduces title — supplying the title information and preparing the draft contract — while the buyer's solicitor investigates it and raises enquiries. A is incorrect because it reverses the two terms. C is incorrect on both counts: the man is the Purchaser, and title is deduced by the seller. D is incorrect because the labels identify which party owes which obligations under the contract; they are not interchangeable. E is incorrect because each party is separately represented; one solicitor acting for both buyer and seller is permitted only in narrow circumstances and would not follow from the man being the purchaser.

A buyer's solicitor acting on the purchase of a house at £285,000 has taken instructions, received the draft contract and the seller's title, raised pre-contract enquiries and received satisfactory replies. The searches are clear, the buyer's mortgage offer has arrived and the buyer has approved the contract. The seller has asked for a completion date four weeks away and the buyer has agreed to it. The buyer's 10% deposit is held on the solicitor's client account and the mortgage offer remains valid for a further two months. Nothing has yet been signed and no money has passed between the parties.

What is the next step in the transaction for the buyer's solicitor?

  1. Completion, when the balance of the price is paid and the keys are released to the buyer.
  2. Registration of the buyer as proprietor at HM Land Registry.
  3. Exchange of contracts, when the deposit is paid and the completion date becomes fixed. Correct
  4. Payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax on the purchase to HMRC.
  5. Signature of the transfer deed and the final pre-completion priority searches.
Why: The correct answer is C. A transaction runs pre-contract, then exchange, then pre-completion, then completion, then post-completion. Everything described belongs to the pre-contract stage and it is complete: title investigated, enquiries answered, searches clear, finance in place, contract approved and deposit held. The next step is therefore exchange, at which the deposit is paid over and the completion date becomes contractually binding. A is incorrect because completion cannot occur before there is a binding contract fixing the date. B is incorrect because registration is the final post-completion step. D is incorrect because SDLT is payable after completion, not before exchange. E is incorrect because signing the transfer and carrying out the priority searches are pre-completion steps, which follow exchange rather than precede it.

Contracts have been exchanged on the purchase of a house at £195,000 and a completion date has been fixed for three weeks' time. The buyer paid a 10% deposit on exchange, and the seller has exchanged on her own purchase in reliance on the sale. Two days after exchange the buyer learns that his employer is relocating him to another city. He tells his solicitor that he no longer wants the house, asks to withdraw, and says he assumes the deposit is simply the price of changing his mind.

Can the buyer withdraw from the purchase without further liability?

  1. Yes, because a buyer may withdraw at any time before completion, which is when ownership passes.
  2. Yes, because he is within a seven-day cooling-off period which runs from the date of exchange.
  3. Yes, provided he forfeits the deposit, which is the agreed price of choosing not to proceed.
  4. No, because exchange bound him to buy; he risks losing the deposit and paying damages. Correct
  5. No, because the seller has exchanged on her own purchase, so the chain can no longer be broken.
Why: The correct answer is D. Exchange is the point at which the parties become contractually bound: the seller must sell, the buyer must buy, and the completion date is fixed. A buyer who refuses to complete faces forfeiture of the deposit and liability for the seller's losses, and the seller may serve a notice to complete and ultimately rescind and claim damages. A is incorrect because it confuses the transfer of ownership at completion with the moment the obligation arises, which is exchange. B is incorrect because there is no cooling-off period on an exchanged contract for the sale of land. C is incorrect because forfeiture of the deposit is a consequence of breach, not a contractual right to walk away; the seller's claim is not capped at the deposit. E is incorrect because the buyer is bound by his own contract regardless of what the seller has done in the chain.
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Common questions

Property Law and Practice FAQs

Freehold, leasehold, conveyancing, planning, and taxation. The SRA assessment specification breaks Property Law and Practice into 16 topics, each examined through single-best-answer (SBA) questions in the FLK2 paper.
Property Law and Practice sits in FLK2. Both FLK2 papers are 180 single-best-answer questions in two 2h 5m sittings on the same day.
16. Our notes, flashcards, and question bank are mapped one-to-one against the SRA's PLP specification so nothing is missed.
Most candidates allocate roughly 48–80 hours across notes, flashcards, and timed practice. The exact split depends on your background — re-sitters can usually focus on weak topics rather than re-reading.
Active recall beats re-reading. Read the notes once, then practise SBA questions in mixed order, then revisit weak topics. Our weak-area tracker surfaces the topics where your accuracy is below 70%.
Yes. The free readiness quiz includes a sample from every subject, and free accounts can access sample questions across all subjects. The full PLP question bank is unlocked with a one-time lifetime purchase and is covered by the 14-day money-back guarantee.
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