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GAZETTE
JULY-AUGUST 1981
The Builder and the Law
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.
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.
Draft Building Regulations
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
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