The Gazette 1981

JULY-AUGUST 1981

GAZETTE

The Builder and the Law

Builder/Client Relationship In the course of her paper on the Builder/Client relationship the President of the Law Society, Mrs. Mo y a Quinlan suggested that solicitors should explain more fully to the client, the various stages the building of a house will go through and advise the client that he is quite entitled, once the contract has been signed, to visit the site on a regular basis for the purpose of satisfying himself that the work is being carried out in accordance with the specification which he will have had an opportunity of seeing at the moment of signing the contract. In saying this the President commented that she was well aware that this was a practice which builders might not wish to en- courage but nevertheless she felt at many times if a more positive interest in the construction of the house was taken by the client in the early stages, fewer problems would arise later on and many of the difficulties which solicitors are subsequently asked to unravel would be avoided. She also suggested that a solicitor should explain in detail the duties and obligations which a purchaser under- takes entering into a contract with a builder. If there were any piece of advice that could be offered to both the client and the builder it was that before proceeding with the con- tract the effect of the contract should be explained in great detail and its duties and obligations clarified at all levels. On the question of the time limits for construction of houses and payment of instalments she noted that all too often the small builder or developer for one reason or another is unable to meet the time commitment and s o frustration begins to build up and a certain amount of dis- trust on the part of the client becomes inevitable if deadlines are not met. She suggested that from the builders point of view it would seem that if the progress of the work was carefully monitored and the client was aware of the likelihood of the due date being reached punctually, the client would realise that it was necessary to have the various instalments ready for immediate payment and so the builder would at least be in a position to meet his own financial obligations. In her paper on the Builder/Client relationship Mrs. Mirette Corboy, President of the Construction Industry Federation, in dealing with the proposed draft Building Regulations urged that such regulations should of their nature only be concerned with public health, safety and energy conservation. They should not embrace aspects of building that are more appropriately dealt with by way of consumer protection legislation, or by the public's rights at Common Law and should not interfere with the processes that already exist within the Construction Industry to deal with the contractual relationship between all parties in the Industry. If the objective of the Regulations is to protect public health and the safety of the community then this provision 137 Draft Building Regulations

HE Law Society organised a most successful L Symposium on "The Builder and the Law" at Blackball Place on the 16th May last. Representatives of all the professions and trades concerned with the topic, as well as members of the Public Service concerned with the area, were present. The Symposium was officially opened by the Minister for the Environment, Mr. Ray Burke T . D. In his introductory remarks to the Symposium, the Minister said that in Ireland we were fortunate that, in general, the many outstanding features of our physical environment are still available to us in good condition. The pressures on our environmental resources were increasing due to the expanding population, the rapid growth of industry, the changing patterns of agriculture and consequential overall growth and development which is in line with the demand for improved living standards. Vigilance and care had to be taken to ensure that the environment did not suffer and unnecessary controversy and conflicts arise which would only impede development. This could best be achieved through a national environmental policy, which sets out objectives and means of their achievement. He had received a report from the Environment Council with recommendations on this matter. The report was at present being considered and he hoped to put proposals to the Government on environment policy in the near future. Expenses in Buying a New House or Flat In a paper entitled "Expenses in Buying a N ew Hou se or Flat" Mr. John Gore Grimes, Solicitor drew attention to the fact that the present system of adjudicating the stamp duty on non CRV type houses and flats was cumbersome and the cause of additional delay and there- fore expense in connection with the house purchase. The Law Society had on previous occasions appealed to the Minister to rationalise the situation in relation to stamp duty on new houses and flats and to apply a fair and equal system without the necessity of contentious fictions which in the experience of the Stamp Office seems to do a little more than encourage perjury. The system causes difficulty both for solicitors, purchasers and for the stamp office. The documentation required was substantial and somebody in the stamps office had to read carefully through each building contract and each agreement for site purchase to make quite certain that they were not linked and this is a costly and time consuming process in an office which is already over-burdened with work. This time consuming and wasteful exercise is based on the fiction that there is no link between the sale of the site and the building of the house and in most cases there is of course a very practical link. The Law Society would con- tinue to press for reform and repeats its call for rationalisation in the form of fixed duty on new houses. Once the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that the instrument presented is an instrument transferring or con- veying newly built premises then a flat race of duty should apply whether the premises are a house or a flat.