An SRA Legal Writing sample question (Property Practice) asks the candidate to write a letter to Mrs Sonia Lowe explaining: the legal implications if she does not complete the purchase of 43 Hill Road on 30 May 202#; what action the seller is likely to take to protect his position and the consequences for her; and why the supervising solicitor cannot give an undertaking that the completion money will be forthcoming on 5 June. The contract incorporates the Standard Conditions of Sale (Fifth Edition – 2018 Revision) with a contract rate of 5%.

An SRA sample question, graded by Kellys.

Read the same Legal Writing question on the SRA’s published Property Practice sample, then see the indicator-by-indicator breakdown Kellys returns. The breakdown is an illustration of how Kellys grades — your own attempt produces a real, indicator-by-indicator grade from the live examiner.

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The SRA’s sample question.

Published by the SRA as a Property Practice Legal Writing sample. The partner’s email is on the left; the SRA’s own “clearly passed” sample answer is on the right. Both verbatim, both cited.

SRA sample · Property Practice · 30 minutes

Email to candidate

From:: Partner
Sent:: 23 May 202#
To:: Candidate
Subject:: Mrs Sonia Lowe – Purchase of 43 Hill Road, Woking GU22 3KL

I am acting for Mrs Sonia Lowe in the purchase of 43 Hill Road, Woking GU22 3KL for £300,000 from Mr Johan Pudsey. Contracts were exchanged a few weeks ago and Mrs Lowe paid a deposit of £30,000, now held by Mr Pudsey's solicitors. The contract incorporates the Standard Conditions of Sale (Fifth Edition – 2018 Revision) with no amendments or special conditions, other than inclusion of 30 May 202# as the completion date and a contract rate of 5%. Mrs Lowe is buying the property without a mortgage by using her own funds and does not have a dependent sale. Mr Pudsey has told her he has no related purchase and has already vacated 43 Hill Road, having moved to another house he already owns. In anticipation of completion on 30 May, I sent Mrs Lowe a completion statement but early this morning she phoned me in some distress. She cannot complete on 30 May because her funds are within a managed investment portfolio requiring 21 days' notice to sell the necessary stock units to release the money she requires. She thought she had given sufficient notice to the fund manager, but an administrative error means her money will not be available for us to complete until 5 June. Understandably, our client is worried that if she does not complete on 30 May, Mr Pudsey can withdraw from the sale but keep her deposit. I explained to Mrs Lowe the contractual position if she cannot complete the purchase on 30 May. However, she was so upset that I do not think she was able to appreciate fully what I told her. I therefore promised to write a letter to her explaining the likely consequences of not completing on 30 May so that she understands her position. In her distress, Mrs Lowe asked me if I could give confirmation that the completion money will be forthcoming on 5 June, as she thought on that basis it might be possible to persuade Mr Pudsey to complete on 30 May. Unfortunately, I have been called to deal with another urgent matter, so I need you to write the letter for me.

I would like you to explain the following to Mrs Lowe: • The legal implications for her if she does not complete the purchase on 30 May; • What action Mr Pudsey is likely to take to protect his position if Mrs Lowe cannot complete on 30 May and what the consequences of such action are for her; and • Why it will not be possible to complete on 30 May with confirmation from me that the completion money will be forthcoming on 5 June. Mrs Lowe is not a lawyer, so it is important that your explanation is clear and simple. However, she is intelligent and astute and will insist on understanding everything, so you will need to provide brief legal explanations where appropriate. I attach a copy of the Standard Conditions of Sale (Fifth Edition – 2018 Revision) for you to refer to. Thanks Partner

Attachment: Standard Conditions of Sale (Fifth Edition — 2018 Revision). Provided by the SRA in the sample question as a reference document for the candidate.

SRA “clearly passed” sample answer

Sample candidate letter

NHJF Law LLP 1 The Churchyard London EC1 4PP Tel: +44 (0)20 7349 1600 Fax: +44 (0)20 7349 1601 www.nhjflawllp.com

Mrs S Lowe 5 Addison Street Guildford Surrey GU1 1DJ 23 May 202# Dear Mrs Lowe Purchase of 43 Hill Road, Woking GU22 3KL I refer to our recent telephone conversation and I am writing to confirm the position in connection with the delay in completion of this purchase as we discussed. Most importantly, if you are not able to complete on 30 May it does not mean Mr Pudsey will be able to cancel the contract immediately and keep your deposit. You will still be able to complete by a given later date, although you may have to pay a small amount of compensation. Notice to complete If you are not in a position to complete on 30 May, probably one of the first things that the seller's solicitors will do is serve on you a notice to complete. The first date that the seller's solicitors could serve this would be 30 May and the notice would give you ten working days (two weeks) to complete i.e. if it were to be served on 30 May then you will have to complete by 13 June. From what we discussed, you anticipate being in a position to complete by 5 June so you should be able to comply with any notice to complete received by you. Compensation The delay will give the seller the automatic right to compensation under the Standard Conditions (which were incorporated in the contract). If you are able to complete on 5 June there will be 6 days delay. This will attract compensation calculated at the contract rate of 5% which will result in you having to pay to the seller an amount of £221.92. Damages There is also the possibility of the seller being able to claim damages from you for breach of contract in addition to the compensation mentioned above. This will depend upon whether the seller sustains any loss as a result of your delay. However, as the seller has told you that he has no related purchase and has already vacated the property, having moved to another house he already owns, it seems unlikely that a short delay to 5 June would give rise to any substantial loss to the seller. If you are not able to comply with the notice to complete However, if you were not able to comply with the notice (i.e. not complete by 5 June) then please note that the seller would be able to cancel the contract, and if he does so he may: (i) keep any deposit and accrued interest; (ii) resell the property; and (iii) claim damages. Undertaking You asked me if it might be possible to persuade the seller and his solicitors to complete on 30 May with confirmation from me that the completion money will be forthcoming on 5 June. Unfortunately, this will not be possible as if I do this it would be construed as an undertaking and a solicitor should only give an undertaking for something within his or her control. In this case, I could only give this undertaking if the completion monies were in my firm's client account on 30 May which will not be possible. Yours sincerely Partner

Source: SRA, “SQE2 sample question and discussion of answer — Legal writing (Property Practice)”, reviewed December 2025. sqe.sra.org.uk. Accessed 2026-06-09. Standard Conditions of Sale (Fifth Edition — 2018 Revision) © The Law Society & Oyez Professional Services (part of Advanced) and referenced but not reproduced here.

How Kellys grades the same attempt.

Six SRA Legal Writing criteria, every band anchored on what the candidate actually wrote. This is an illustrative breakdown of how Kellys grades — your own attempt produces a real, indicator-by-indicator grade from the live examiner.

OverallB

Likely a pass against the Performance Indicators

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Likely Competent (estimate)

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Performance Indicator breakdown

Criterion	Grade	Rationale
Include relevant factsSkills	A	The candidate identifies the key facts the law turns on — the Standard Conditions of Sale are incorporated, the contractual completion date is 30 May, the contract rate is 5%, the date the client believes she can complete by is 5 June, and the seller has no related purchase. Nothing material is omitted; nothing irrelevant is included.
Use a logical structureSkills	A	Greeting, main heading, clear introductory BLUF, four signposted sub-headings (Notice to complete · Compensation · Damages · Undertaking), and a sign-off. The recipient can navigate to any sub-issue in a single glance. Structure signals competence before substance is read.
Advice/content is client and recipient focusedSkills	B	The letter directly answers Mrs Lowe's worry — that she will lose the house and the deposit. The opening reassures: that outcome does not follow from a short delay. Each sub-section is written to the client's question, not as a general note on the law. A stronger answer would acknowledge the emotional weight of the situation more explicitly in the opening line — the partner flagged that Mrs Lowe was in distress.
Use clear, precise, concise and acceptable language which is appropriate to the recipientSkills	B	Plain English throughout; no statutory citations or Standard Condition paragraph numbers leak into the letter, which is the right call for a lay client who the partner described as intelligent and astute. The compensation calculation is given as a concrete figure (£221.92) rather than a formula. Two paragraphs run slightly long and could be tightened without losing content.
Apply the law correctly to the client's situationApplication of law	A	The notice-to-complete mechanic is applied correctly: ten working days from service, earliest service 30 May, comply-by date 13 June. Compensation is correctly identified as automatic under the Standard Conditions at the contract rate. Damages is correctly framed as contingent on actual loss. The contractual logic tracks the facts at every step.
Apply the law comprehensively to the client's situation, identifying any ethical and professional conduct issues and exercising judgment to resolve them honestly and with integrityApplication of law	B	The undertaking issue is correctly identified as a professional conduct point and the candidate gives the right reason — a solicitor should not give an undertaking for something outside their control. The letter could go further by briefly explaining what an undertaking is in plain English (rather than treating the term as self-evident) and by setting the comply-by-13-June fallback alongside the 5-June expectation more prominently.

Strengths

Opens with a one-paragraph BLUF that resolves the client's headline fear — house and deposit are not at immediate risk on these facts.
Numerical compensation figure (£221.92) is calculated and shown, not just described abstractly.
Professional conduct point on the undertaking is identified without being prompted in the brief.
Sub-headings let the client navigate to any single question on a second read.

Weaknesses

Opening line is procedural ("I refer to our recent telephone conversation") rather than warmly acknowledging the client's distress.
The two-week comply-by window could be surfaced more visibly so the client takes away the date 13 June, not just the date 5 June.
Brief explanation of what "undertaking" means in plain English would help the lay reader.

Improvement priorities

Lead with one sentence that names what the client is afraid of and addresses it.Example: "You will not lose the house and you will not lose your deposit because of a short delay — this letter explains why." Then the procedural sentence can follow.
Define "undertaking" the first time the term appears.One short clause is enough: "…would be construed as an undertaking — a personal promise by a solicitor that creates a binding professional obligation — and a solicitor should only give an undertaking for something within his or her control."
Make the 13 June deadline as visible as the 5 June expectation.End the Notice to complete section with one line: "In summary: the latest date you would have to complete by is 13 June. You expect to be able to complete on 5 June, which is well within that window."

This is an illustrative breakdown of how Kellys grades. Your own attempt produces a real, indicator-by-indicator grade from the live examiner against the same SRA Performance Indicators shown above.

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The SRA publishes sample questions and sample answers. They are the most honest signal a candidate has about what the examiner is looking for. What they do not show is which Performance Indicators were satisfied by which sentences, where the answer fell short, and what the next-highest-leverage fix would be.

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