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GAZETTE
P R A C T I C E
N O T E
SEPTEMBER 1993
I The Law Society's Standard
General Conditions of Sale
! Section 22 (7) of the Building Control
Act, 1990, contains a most helpful
amnesty with regard to works executed
prior to 13 December, 1989 in
contravention of bye-laws.
i
I Section 19 of the Local Government
(Planning and Development) Act, 1992,
introduced important alleviations in
relation to enforcement procedures
under the planning legislation. These
I are dealt with comprehensively in an
article by
John Gore-Grimes
published
at page 383 et seq of the
Gazette
for
December, 1992. (Vol. 86 No. 10).
A vendor, anxious to avail of the
foregoing amnesty and/or alleviations
or any extension thereof and to rely on
same, should disclose the non-conform-
! ing matter in his Special Conditions
(possibly detailing appropriate dates
I and other relevant data by way of
] Statutory Declaration), and provide
(likewise by Special Condition) for any
required consequential relaxation in, or
departure from, the application of
General Condition 36.
Failure to cover a non-conforming issue
as suggested or in some other
appropriate manner will mean that the
full vigour of General Condition 36
will continue to operate with resultant
exposure on foot of the warranties
therein specified.
It should be mentioned that the latest
(1991) edition of the Society's General
Conditions of Sale was published prior
to the coming into operation of the
Building Control Act, 1990, and its
attendant regulations, and same are,
therefore, not referred to therein.
Accordingly, any party desiring to
provide for evidence of compliance
with such regulations should cater for
same by way of Special Condition.
Conveyancing Committee
Certificates of Discharge
from CAT
A number of queries have been
received by the Conveyancing Com-
mittee with regard to the acceptability
of conditional Certificates of Discharge
from Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT)
where the time limit has expired.
A conditional certificate provides that,
in the event of any variation from the
market value accepted for tax on any
portion of the property covered by it,
occurring as a result of a sale or
j compulsory acquisition within a period
of (in the case of agricultural property)
six years, and, (in the case of other
property) three years, the taxable value
of the gift/inheritance may be subject
to adjustment.
The argument has been made that,
where a vendor is disposing of property
and holds a certificate of conditional
discharge, there is no necessity for an
absolute certificate if the disposition
occurs outside the time limit specified
in the conditional certificate on the
basis that the condition has withered.
The difficulty with this argument is that
is does not take account of the
possibility of a prior transfer of
part
of
the property which may have taken
place within the limitation period. If
this occurs then, although the
subsequent disposition may have taken
place outside the limitation period, a
liability for tax may attach to it as a
result of the earlier disposition.
It is the view of the Conveyancing
Committee that a purchaser should not
be obliged to enquire into the existence
of earlier dispositions and is entitled in
all cases to an absolute Certificate of
Discharge from CAT. The vendor's
solicitor should experience no
I difficulty or delay in obtaining such a
j certificate provided, of course, that no
tax is payable.
! Purchasers' solicitors will keep in
Í mind, however, that property
Í comprised in a taxable gift or taxable
I inheritance shall not remain charged as
against a bona fide purchaser or
mortgagee for full consideration after
the expiration of twelve years from the
date of the gift or inheritance (section
| 47 Capital Acquisitions Tax Act,
1976).
Conveyancing Committee
Warning on Advance Fee
Fraud
It has come to the attention of the Law
Society that a company purporting to
provide financial services (including
the purported arrangement of loans) has
sought to enter into a business
association with a number of firms of
practising solicitors both in Dublin and
j
in other parts of the country.
| The
modus operandi
of this company is
to request in advance a loan negotiating
fee. The loan as proposed does not then
materialise and the would-be borrower
finds himself at the loss of the advance
fee so paid. Solicitors and their clients
should be wary of situations where
such a negotiating or other fee is
sought in advance of the drawdown of
a loan and should take all steps
necessary to verify the
bona fides
and
authenticity of persons proposing such
transactions.
•
District Court Sittings
Balbriggan - correction
Readers are asked to note a further
correction to the information published
about District Court sittings in
Balbriggan in the July/August 1993
I issue of the
Gazette
(Vol. 87 No. 6,
page 206). Please note that the Court
sits each
Thursday
between 10.30 a.m.
and 1.00 p.m. and 2.00 p.m. and 4.00
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