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GAZETTE
SEPTEMBER 1979
14.7
Against this background of increasing E.E.C. impact on our company law, the
Committee has for the first time this year sent a representative to the Special Committee
on Company Law of the Commission Consultative des Barreaux de la Communauté
Européenne. This provides a useful direct channel of communication for representative
company law practitioners of the Community with the Commission. It is now dealing
with the Seventh Directive on group accounts and with insider trading. The development
of this contact is very helpful for the work of the Company Law Committee.
CONVEYANCING
COMMITTEE
Rory O'Donnell
Eric Brunker
John F. Buckley
Maurice Curran
Patrick Fagan
William Fallon
Ernest Farrell
John Gore-Grimes
John Maher
P. C. Moore
Rory McEntee
Frank Murphy
W. A. Osborne
Moya Qulnlan
Brian Russell
Joseph Sweeney
Chairman
Rory O'Donnell
Chairman
Regular meetings of the Committee have been held during the year.
15.1
Requisitions on Title:
The Society's new form of Requisitions on Title have
been in print for some months. There were a few teething problems but these have now
been eliminated. The Requisitions which deal in a comprehensive way with the increas-
ingly complicated areas of planning, capital taxes and Family Home Protection Act have
been well received. Specialist Requisitions such as licencing have been omitted and
members were recommended to retain a few copies of the old Requisitions for reference in
this respect.
15.2
Sale of Flats:
The preparation of a specimen set of documents is still in hand. It
is hoped to have a report on this complicated matter issued to the profession within the
next few months.
15.3
Construction Industry Federation:
A sub-committee, in conjunction with
representatives of the Dublin Solicitors' Bar Association (DSBA) have been meeting with
the CIF working on a proposed recommended form of building contract for spec-built
houses. About ten working meetings have taken place and very considerable progress has
been made. It is hoped that the contract will be launched before the end of the year.
15.4
National House Building Gauarantee Scheme (NHBGS):
The Committee has
been endeavouring to anticipate problems which might arise out of the proposal by the
main building societies to lend in general only to builders who are registered under this
scheme. The main difficulty foreseen was that mortgagees' solicitors might insist upon the
guarantee certificate being available upon completion of the mortgage. It is anticipated
that this would be likely to cause delays in view of the fact that the guarantee certificates
will not be issued until a final inspection has been carried out by the inspector of the
Department of the Environment. It is hoped that solicitors for building societies will be
instructed by their cliants merely to satisfy themselves that the builder is a registered
builder and that the National House Building Guarantee Agreement has been entered into
in respect of the house. A number of different meetings have been held with represen-
tatives of the NHBGS and a joint approach has been agreed.
15.5
New Houses: Architects' Certificates:
As mentioned last year, a specimen form
of architect's certificate was proposed for adoption by the solicitors for the main lending
institutions and by the Institute of Architects. A form of this was finally agreed and details
were published in the November 1978 issue of the
Gazette.
15.6
New Houses: A rchitects' Certificates:
The Committee recommended that it was
not reasonable for solicitors acting for a purchaser or mortgagee to require the furnishing
of an architect's certificate in respect of a house which was built at a time when it was not
general practice to furnish these certificates. The Committee took the view that it became
general practice to furnish such certificates in the year 1970 and that it was unreasonable
for solicitors to look for certificates in respect of houses built prior to that year.
15.7
New Houses: Capital Gains Tax:
Enquiries were received by members about
the correct procedure in relation to Capital Gains Tax clearance certificates where acting
for the purchaser of a new house when the price exceeds £50,000. A note was approved
for publication in the
Gazette
, detailing the position, which appears to be as follows.
Where there is an agreement for the purchase of a site and that agreement is separate
from and unconnected with another agreement to erect a building on a site, a CGT
clearance certificate is not required for the protection of a purchaser, unless the price of
the site itself exceeds £50,000. If the contracts comprise a combined building agreement
and agreement for lease, or if separate contracts are interconnected, then if the total
consideration exceeds £50,000 the solicitor for the purchaser must insist on getting a
CGT clearance certificate or make the deduction prescribed by the CGT Act 1975.
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