# Are electronic signatures legally binding in the UK? What the law in England, Wales and Scotland says

E-signatures bind for most documents in England and Wales, but the Law Commission says a deed's witness must be present. Cases, Land Registry, Scotland.

**In short:** Yes, for most documents. English courts have accepted typed names, email footers and "I accept" clicks, and 142 of 166 Law Commission consultees agreed e-signatures meet statutory signing rules. For deeds, the Commission's view is that the witness must be physically present.

For most documents, yes. In England and Wales an electronic signature can bind a party just as ink does, and the courts have accepted a first name at the foot of an email, the header of a SWIFT message and a click on an "I accept" box as signatures. The Law Commission said so in 2019, and the government agreed the following year that no new legislation was needed.

The exceptions are where the law asks for more than a signature. A deed must be signed in the presence of a witness, who in the Law Commission's view has to be physically there. Wills need writing and two witnesses. HM Land Registry sets its own rules on what it will register, and Scotland has a separate statute. This piece describes what those sources say; it is not legal advice.

## What the legislation says

[Section 7 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/7/section/7), which extends to the whole UK, provides that in legal proceedings an electronic signature, and any certification of it, "shall each be admissible in evidence" on questions of authenticity or integrity. It is a rule about evidence, and the explanatory notes quoted by the Law Commission leave it to the court to decide what weight a signature should be given.

The UK version of the EU eIDAS Regulation, [Regulation (EU) No 910/2014](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2014/910/article/25), stayed in domestic law after Brexit. Article 25(1) says an electronic signature "shall not be denied legal effect and admissibility as evidence" solely because it is electronic or not qualified. Article 25(2) gives a qualified electronic signature "the equivalent legal effect of a handwritten signature". [Article 3(10)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2014/910/article/3) defines an electronic signature broadly, as electronic data attached to or logically associated with other data and "used by the signatory to sign".

Above that simple tier sit two more. An advanced signature is uniquely linked to and capable of identifying the signatory, made with data under their sole control, and linked to the document so that any later change is detectable. A qualified signature is an advanced one made on a qualified device and backed by a qualified certificate. The [Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions Regulations 2016](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/696/contents) made the Information Commissioner the supervisory body for trust service providers, including those issuing qualified certificates, and amended section 7. Since 30 September 2026 that body has been the Information Commission. Since 31 December 2020 the UK text has omitted article 25(3), the rule that each member state must recognise qualified signatures issued in the others.

## What the courts have accepted

English law has not required a particular form of signature. The test across the cases is whether the person applied their name or mark intending to authenticate the document.

In [Golden Ocean Group v Salgaocar Mining Industries](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewca/civ/2012/265) \[2012] EWCA Civ 265, a guarantee had to be signed under the Statute of Frauds 1677, and the only signature was a broker's first name on an email. Tomlinson LJ held that by putting "Guy" on it the broker showed it came with his authority, and called that "a sufficient authentication". In [WS Tankship II v Kwangju Bank](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/comm/2011/3103) \[2011] EWHC 3103 (Comm), Blair J held that the bank's name in a SWIFT message header was enough, though the system generated it, because the bank caused it to be there by sending the message. The Law Commission also cites [Bassano v Toft](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/qb/2014/377) \[2014] EWHC 377 (QB), where an "I accept" click met the signature requirement for a consumer credit agreement.

Where a signature failed, intention was the reason. In J Pereira Fernandes v Mehta \[2006] EWHC 813 (Ch), an email address inserted automatically by the internet provider was not a signature, because nothing showed it was meant to authenticate.

Less than three weeks after the Law Commission reported, a judge sitting in the County Court at Manchester applied the same test to land. In [Neocleous v Rees](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/ch/2019/2462) \[2019] EWHC 2462 (Ch), a settlement disposing of an interest in land was agreed by email, and section 2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 required it to be signed. His Honour Judge Pearce held that the solicitor's automatic email footer was a signature and granted the claimants specific performance.

## The Law Commission's 2019 report

The Law Commission's report, [Electronic execution of documents](https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/electronic-execution-of-documents/) (Law Com No 386, September 2019), covers England and Wales. Its statement of the law says an electronic signature "is capable in law of being used to execute a document (including a deed)", provided the signer intends to authenticate it and any formalities for that document are met.

The consultation drew 177 responses, 76 of them identical or near-identical and mainly about lasting powers of attorney. On the core question, 142 of the 166 who answered agreed that an electronic signature can satisfy a statutory signature requirement where there is intention to authenticate; 23 disagreed. Asked whether legislation was needed to confirm it, 117 of 166 said no.

In a [written statement on 3 March 2020](https://cdn.websitebuilder.service.justice.gov.uk/uploads/sites/54/2025/12/Government-response-to-electronic-signatures-report.pdf), the Lord Chancellor agreed that primary legislation was not necessary, endorsed the Commission's draft provision as reflecting the government's view of the law, and accepted that the government should convene an industry working group, including on video witnessing.

## Where a witness, or wet ink, is still needed

The main limit is the deed. Under [section 1(3) of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/34/section/1), an individual executes a deed only if it is signed "in the presence of a witness who attests the signature" and delivered. The Law Commission concluded this requires physical presence, even when signer and witness both sign electronically, and 147 of the 162 consultees who answered agreed. It was "not persuaded that parties can be confident" a court would accept a witness watching on a screen or through a platform.

So a witness can attest an electronic signature, but must be in the room. Companies have another route: under section 44 of the Companies Act 2006 a company can execute a document by the signatures of two authorised signatories, with no witness.

Video witnessing of deeds would need new law. Consultees backed it, 114 of 165, but the Commission was "not convinced that a current need for legislation" had been shown, pointing instead to practical obstacles such as confidentiality and the order of signing. Witnessing through a signing platform with no video link had little support: 126 of 162 opposed it. The industry working group's [interim report](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industry-working-group-on-esignatures-interim-report) of 1 February 2022 saw no reason video witnessing should not be "legally permitted", while noting it would need primary legislation. Its [final report](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industry-working-group-on-esignatures-final-report) of February 2023 found that neither advanced nor qualified signatures were widely used for documents governed by English law, though the group had seen more requests to use them in 2022 and 2023.

Wills were outside the Commission's project. [Section 9 of the Wills Act 1837](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Will4and1Vict/7/26/section/9) requires a will in writing, signed, with the signature made or acknowledged before two witnesses present at the same time. For wills made between 31 January 2020 and 31 January 2024, that presence could be by video, though the will still had to be in writing and signed. The working group recommended making remote witnessing of wills permanent.

## HM Land Registry: three routes, one without a witness

A deed that is valid must also be one the registry will accept, if it deals with registered land. [Practice Guide 82](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electronic-signatures-accepted-by-hm-land-registry-pg82/practice-guide-82-electronic-signatures-accepted-by-hm-land-registry), updated on 15 June 2026, sets out what HM Land Registry accepts.

**Mercury signing.** Each party prints the signature page, signs it in wet ink in the physical presence of a witness and emails it back with the final deed. The name comes from R (Mercury Tax Group) v HMRC \[2008] EWHC 2721 (Admin), where Underhill J agreed that signature and attestation must form part of "the same physical document".

**Conveyancer-certified electronic signatures.** A conveyancer controls the signing on a platform, signers and witnesses get a one-time passcode of at least six digits by text, and each signer signs "in the physical presence of the witness". A conveyancer then certifies that the guide's requirements were met.

**Qualified electronic signatures.** Under section 91 of the Land Registration Act 2002 an electronic document can be treated as a deed if the registrar's conditions are met. Under a notice effective from 1 June 2026, any registrable disposition can be made by such a document signed with qualified signatures, and because it is not an actual deed "there is no need for the signatures to be witnessed". HM Land Registry's [annual report for 2025-26](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-land-registry-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-to-2026/annual-report-and-accounts-2025-to-2026-html) says it was ready to accept such applications in August, meaning August 2025 in a report for the year to March 2026, and an [HM Land Registry blog](https://hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk/2025/10/08/qualified-electronic-signatures-answering-your-questions) confirms it was accepting them by October 2025. Nationwide Building Society the first lender to submit a mortgage application signed this way.

Some documents have no electronic route. The guide's signature table, which covers every method except qualified signatures, marks lasting powers of attorney, statutory declarations and identity forms ID1, ID2, ID3 and ID5 as "No" throughout, and forms needing a photograph must be signed in wet ink.

Neither source counts electronically signed deeds, but the annual report does show how applications arrive. In 2025-26 the registry received 4,615,622 substantive applications that change the register, excluding bulk register updates, and 4,183,035 (90.63 per cent) came online. None of the 67,490 first registrations was received online.

![Bars: in 2025-26, 90.63 per cent of substantive applications reached HM Land Registry online, from 94.97 per cent of new leases to none of the 67,490 first registrations.](https://unforged.ai/media/35d800509d05-hmlr-online-share-1280.webp)

Source: HM Land Registry, Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, Appendix A

These figures measure how an application is lodged, not how the deed in it was signed. A wet-ink transfer that has been scanned is lodged online too, so the chart shows how digital the registry's intake is without saying how far signing itself has moved.

## Scotland

Under [section 1 of the Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/7/section/1), most contracts need no writing at all. Writing is required for a narrower set, including contracts and conveyances of real rights in land, gratuitous unilateral obligations outside business, trusts where a person declares themselves sole trustee of their own property, and wills.

For those, [section 9B](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/7/section/9B) requires an electronic document to be authenticated by each granter's electronic signature of a type the Scottish Ministers prescribe; the part of the Act containing it is in force only for specified purposes, so that needs checking for any given document. The [Electronic Documents (Scotland) Regulations 2014](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2014/83/regulation/2) require an advanced electronic signature for validity. For the document to be presumed authenticated under section 9C, [regulation 3](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2014/83/regulation/3), as amended in 2022, requires a qualified one. On paper, [section 3](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/7/section/3) gives that presumption when a witness signs and is named with an address, so in Scotland the qualified signature does the work a witness does on paper.

## What the law settles, and what it leaves to evidence

The law settles that an electronic signature can bind. Whether a particular signature was made by the person it names is a question of evidence: section 7 makes the signature admissible, and the court weighs it. The Law Commission's 2001 advice, repeated in the 2019 report, put it plainly: "reliability is not essential to validity".

The industry working group's final report follows from that. Among its principles are agreeing early which tier of signature a document needs, and using a platform with a strong audit trail showing each signatory's intention to sign.

> The general rule stops applying where a document is a deed or must be witnessed, where a registry has to accept it, or where the contract itself prescribes a form of signature.

## Where Sig fits

[Sig](https://unforged.ai/sig/product), our e-signature product, is in private beta. It keeps a two-second video of each person as they sign, checked for a live person, with where they were if you ask for it and the device they used, and every signed copy carries a certificate of signing and a date from an independent time-stamping authority. That record speaks to who signed and whether they meant to. It does not change the formalities: a deed signed without a witness in the room is no more valid for having good evidence behind it.

Sig is in private beta, and we'd love you to try it: [Join the beta](https://unforged.ai/contact?topic=other\&product=sig)

## Sources

- [Electronic Communications Act 2000, section 7](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/7/section/7), legislation.gov.uk
- [UK eIDAS Regulation, Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, article 25](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2014/910/article/25) and [article 3](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2014/910/article/3), legislation.gov.uk
- [Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/696)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/696/contents)
- Law Commission, [Electronic execution of documents, Law Com No 386](https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/electronic-execution-of-documents/) (September 2019), with the [report](https://cdn.websitebuilder.service.justice.gov.uk/uploads/sites/54/2025/12/Electronic-Execution-Report.pdf) and [analysis of responses](https://cdn.websitebuilder.service.justice.gov.uk/uploads/sites/54/2025/12/Analysis-of-responses-for-publication-with-report-FINAL.pdf)
- Ministry of Justice, [Government response to the Law Commission report](https://cdn.websitebuilder.service.justice.gov.uk/uploads/sites/54/2025/12/Government-response-to-electronic-signatures-report.pdf), written statement HCWS143, 3 March 2020
- Industry Working Group on the Electronic Execution of Documents, [Interim Report](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industry-working-group-on-esignatures-interim-report), 1 February 2022, and [Final Report](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industry-working-group-on-esignatures-final-report), February 2023
- [Golden Ocean Group Ltd v Salgaocar Mining Industries PVT Ltd \[2012\] EWCA Civ 265](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewca/civ/2012/265)
- [WS Tankship II BV v Kwangju Bank Ltd \[2011\] EWHC 3103 (Comm)](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/comm/2011/3103)
- [Bassano v Toft \[2014\] EWHC 377 (QB)](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/qb/2014/377)
- [Neocleous v Rees \[2019\] EWHC 2462 (Ch)](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/ch/2019/2462)
- [Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989, section 1](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/34/section/1)
- [Wills Act 1837, section 9](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Will4and1Vict/7/26/section/9)
- HM Land Registry, [Practice Guide 82: electronic signatures accepted by HM Land Registry](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electronic-signatures-accepted-by-hm-land-registry-pg82/practice-guide-82-electronic-signatures-accepted-by-hm-land-registry), updated 15 June 2026
- HM Land Registry, [Annual Report and Accounts 2025 to 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-land-registry-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-to-2026/annual-report-and-accounts-2025-to-2026-html), and [blog on qualified electronic signatures](https://hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk/2025/10/08/qualified-electronic-signatures-answering-your-questions), 8 October 2025
- Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995, [section 1](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/7/section/1), [section 3](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/7/section/3) and [section 9B](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/7/section/9B)
- [Electronic Documents (Scotland) Regulations 2014, regulation 2](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2014/83/regulation/2) and [regulation 3](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2014/83/regulation/3)