Are electronic signatures legal in the UK? Deeds, wills, leases and Scotland

Tenancy agreements, job contracts and even mortgage deeds now reach people in the UK as a link to sign online. So it is fair to ask whether a signature made on a screen is legally binding here.

For most documents, yes. English law has been relaxed about how you sign for centuries, and it applies the same attitude to electronic signatures. The limits come from a few special formalities: deeds, witnesses, wills, and the separate system in Scotland. This guide covers each.

The short answer

• Electronic signatures are valid in the UK for the great majority of documents, including contracts the law says must be "signed".
• In England and Wales, the Law Commission concluded in 2019 that an electronic signature can meet a statutory signature requirement if the person intended to authenticate the document, and the government accepted that view.
• Deeds can be signed electronically, but where a witness is needed, the witness must be physically present with the signer.
• Wills cannot be signed electronically. Video witnessing, allowed temporarily after the pandemic, ended on 31 January 2024.
• Scotland is different: documents that legally must be in writing need an advanced electronic signature to be valid and a qualified one to be self-proving.

The law in England and Wales

Electronic Communications Act 2000, section 7

Section 7 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 makes an electronic signature, and a certification of it, admissible in evidence in legal proceedings on questions of authenticity or integrity. On its own it says little about validity; that comes from the common law.

The common law and the Law Commission

English law cares about intention, not method. A signature is anything a person puts on a document to show they are authenticating it. The Law Commission's 2019 report, Electronic Execution of Documents, reviewed the cases and concluded:

• an electronic signature is capable in law of being used to execute a document, including where there is a statutory requirement for a signature, provided the person signing intends to authenticate the document and any other formalities are met;
• this covers typed names, clicking to accept, and scanned or drawn signatures on a PDF; and
• a deed must still be signed in the physical presence of a witness, even if both sign electronically.

The government accepted these conclusions, and they are widely treated as a statement of the current law.

Cases worth knowing

• Golden Ocean Group v Salgaocar Mining Industries [2012] EWCA Civ 265: the Court of Appeal held that a guarantee, which must be in writing and signed under the Statute of Frauds 1677, could be made through an exchange of emails, with a broker's first name at the end of an email counting as a signature.
• Neocleous v Rees [2019] EWHC 2462 (Ch): a solicitor's name and details in an automatically generated email footer were held to be a signature for a contract relating to land under the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989.
• J Pereira Fernandes SA v Mehta [2006] EWHC 813 (Ch): the opposite outcome: an email address that the system added automatically in the header was not a signature. The difference is whether the name was put there to authenticate the message.

UK eIDAS and the three levels

The UK kept a domestic copy of the EU eIDAS Regulation after Brexit, alongside the Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions Regulations 2016. It uses the same three levels (simple, advanced and qualified) and the Information Commissioner's Office supervises UK trust service providers. Under the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 this body of law became "assimilated law" at the end of 2023; the e-signature provisions were not revoked. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 later gave the government powers to adjust how overseas trust services, including EU ones, are recognised in the UK.

In practice, UK law does not demand a qualified signature for anything in private contracting. QES matters mainly for HM Land Registry (below) and for Scotland.

Documents you cannot sign electronically (or need a special signature)

Deeds and witnesses

A deed signed by an individual needs a witness who attests the signature. The Law Commission's view is that the witness must be physically present when the signer signs; watching over video is not enough under the current law. The witness can then add their own electronic signature. The Law Commission recommended an industry working group to look at video and remote witnessing, but the law has not changed.

Companies can execute deeds under the Companies Act 2006 by two authorised signatories (or a director and a witness), and those signatures can be electronic.

HM Land Registry

HM Land Registry sets its own rules in Practice Guide 82, Electronic signatures accepted by HM Land Registry (its Practice Guide 8 covers how deeds are executed and attested generally). It accepts:

• "Mercury" signing, where a wet-ink signature page is scanned and emailed with the final document;
• conveyancer-certified electronic signatures, accepted since 27 July 2020: a conveyancer runs the signing on an e-signing platform, signers use a one-time passcode, and the witness must be physically present and signs separately; and
• qualified electronic signatures, which the Registry first tested in a pilot. Under a notice that took effect on 1 June 2026, any registrable disposition can be made by an electronic document signed with a QES, with digital mortgages handled separately. Such a document is treated as having effect as a deed without being an actual deed, so no witness is needed. Check the current version of the guide before relying on it, as the Registry updates it often.

An ordinary simple e-signature on a transfer deed, without these safeguards, will not be registered.

Wills

A will in England and Wales must meet section 9 of the Wills Act 1837: it must be in writing, signed by the testator (or at their direction) in the presence of two witnesses present at the same time, who then sign. Electronic signatures are not accepted. A temporary order allowed wills to be witnessed by video between 31 January 2020 and 31 January 2024, but even then the will had to be a paper document signed in ink; that concession has ended.

The Law Commission published its final report on modernising wills law in 2025, recommending that electronic wills be allowed if made through a reliable system. That is a proposal. Until Parliament acts, sign on paper.

Lasting powers of attorney

Under the long-standing process, an LPA can be prepared online or on paper but is signed on the paper form, with the required witness and certificate provider. The Powers of Attorney Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 18 September 2023 and provides for a more digital process, including electronic signing with safeguards, but most of it depends on commencement regulations and the Office of the Public Guardian's new service, which is being introduced in stages. Check the Office of the Public Guardian's current guidance before you sign one electronically.

Common situations

Employment contracts

No particular form is required for an employment contract, and e-signing through an HR platform is standard. Employers must give a written statement of the main terms under the Employment Rights Act 1996; many do so electronically. Settlement agreements must be in writing and signed; e-signatures are routinely used, with the adviser's certificate signed too.

Tenancy agreements

A residential tenancy of three years or less does not have to be a deed and can be signed electronically. This is how most letting agents now work. In England, the Renters' Rights Act 2025 replaced assured shorthold tenancies with assured periodic tenancies from 1 May 2026, and existing ASTs converted automatically; the new rolling tenancies are still not deeds, so e-signing the written terms works the same way. Wales has its own occupation contracts under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. Leases of more than three years must be made by deed, which brings in the witness rule. Deposit protection and the landlord's information duties still apply however you sign.

Company documents

Board minutes, written resolutions and share transfer forms are commonly e-signed. Companies House accepts electronic filings through its own services. A stock transfer form sent for stamping should follow HMRC's current instructions.

Scotland

Scotland has its own law under the Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995, which was amended to add a part on electronic documents, together with the Electronic Documents (Scotland) Regulations 2014.

• Most contracts need no formal writing; a simple electronic signature is valid.
• Documents that must be in formal writing, including contracts and dispositions of interests in land, missives, many leases, gratuitous unilateral obligations outside business, and certain trusts. Need an advanced electronic signature to be validly executed as electronic documents.
• To be self-proving (probative), so that a court presumes it was validly signed, an electronic document needs a qualified electronic signature.
• Scots law has no concept of witnessing an electronic signature. A witness watching someone e-sign does not make the document self-proving.
• Wills and testamentary writings must still be signed on paper.

Scottish solicitors can apply a QES with the Law Society of Scotland's smartcard; the Registers of Scotland accepts electronic documents only through the routes it specifies.

Signing with KovaPDF

• [Request Signatures](/request-signatures) is built for the documents where UK law accepts any electronic signature: employment contracts, residential tenancy agreements, NDAs, supplier agreements, board approvals. Add the signers, choose the order, place the fields and send. Each signer gets a private link, signs without an account and can decline. When everyone has signed, every party receives the PDF with a certificate of completion (document fingerprint, names, emails, open and sign times, IP addresses and browsers), and the file is sealed with a trusted timestamp, so later edits are detectable. These are simple electronic signatures with evidence; they are not advanced or qualified signatures.
• [Sign PDF](/sign-pdf): sign a form yourself by drawing, typing or uploading your signature.
• [Digital Signature](/digital-signature-pdf): if you hold a certificate as a .pfx or .p12 file, sign the PDF with it and add a trusted timestamp and long-term validation data. Many qualified certificates, including smartcard ones, keep the key on a card or with a remote provider and cannot be used on any website; use the provider's software for those.
• [Verify PDF Signature](/verify-pdf-signature): check whether a signed PDF has been altered and who signed it.

What no online tool can do: provide a physically present witness for a deed, satisfy the Wills Act, or replace HM Land Registry's conveyancer-certified process. KovaPDF can still help you prepare and check the PDF.