The Gazette 1979

GA Z E T TE

APRIL

1979

DUBLIN SOLICITORS' BAR

ASSOCIATION

Report of a lecture on TITLE INSURANCE given by

Paul McNamara of the firm of Czaplar & Bok, Attorneys

at Law, Boston, Massachussetts.

Mr. McNamara recently gave a short lecture to the

Dublin Solicitors' Bar Association in Blackhall Place.

The main points of his lecture were:—

1. Lawyers in Boston, Massachssetts and generally in

New England have a monopoly on conveyancing

as in Ireland. This does not apply to Lawyers in other

newer areas such as California and the Mid-West

where the work is done by non-qualified persons

and it was in these areas that the idea of Title

Insurance first came up.

The spread of Title Insurance came to Boston

around the 1960's as a result of an inflow of money

from the West into the East. The

financial

institutions insisted on also getting Title Insurance.

2. The Title Insurance is an

extra.

It is not a substitute

for Lawyers and Lawyers are still liable under the

Negligence Policy. Title Insurance only covers defects

on Title which would not have appeared to the

Lawyer. It can cover delays in completion or claims

being made against the property for Planning breaches

or liens. In Boston they have the situation that when a

person carries out work to a property he may get a

lien against the property for his fees involved, and

these give rise to a number of problems.

3. It appears that their search of Title does not have any

Statutory protection as given to Lawyers in Ireland

under the 1881 Act. Accoringly they have to search

back 50 to 60 years to get a good root of Title. They

do not have our Statutory period of 40 years.

Similarly for adverse possession the period is around

20 years unlike our 12 year period.

The important point is that the Indemnity is in

addition to the normal cover. It is the Lawyer who

negotiates this cover and it is in addition to his own

Negligence Policy. The Insurance Cover is given on

the basis of the Lawyer's Certificate of Title. He

negotiates the terms with the Insurance Company and

he determines what cover is taken out.

The cost in the United States at the moment runs at

around 3 dollars per 1,000 dollars cover effected and

in the U.K. it is around £2.50 per £1,000.00 cover

effected.

4. The similarity between the registration of Title in

Boston and Dublin is remarkable in that they have

both registered and un-registered Title and that

Lawyers have a monopoly on conveyancing. Title

Insurance is now common in Boston expecially in

commercial transactions and it enables the Lawyer for

the Purchaser or Borrower also to act for the Lending

Institution upon him producing the Title Indemnity

Policy. The terms of the Policy whilst they are

negotiated by the Lawyer are effective only during the

currency of the particular ownership, that is they do

not run with the Title but as soon as the insured has

passed on his Title the Policy lapses, or ends.

It would seem that due to the more complicated

nature of conveyancing in the States and the lack of

Statutory Protection as to periods of Title that the

Title Indemnity is more appropriate in the States than

it could be here.

DUBLIN SOLICITORS BAR ASSOCIATION

CORRECT FEE ON RESIDENTIAL LETTING

AGREEMENTS

The Association recently submitted to the Law Society

a query as to the correct basis of charging fees for

residential fiat and house letting agreements.

The Professional Purposes Committee of the Law

Society has pointed out that the proper charge is the scale

fee appropriate to the rent under the Solicitors

Remuneration Act as set out in the Society's Handbook.

The Committee indicated that the Society did not

object to the continuation of the tradition of charging only

nominal fees when acting for a tenant taking a short term

letting of residential property either furnished or

unfurnished.

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