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£12-12-0; between £3,000 and £4,000, £15-15-0;
between £4,000 and £7,000, £21-0-0; between
£7,000 and £10,000, £26-5-0; exceeds £10,000,
£1-1-0 per additional £1,000.
(2) Advising on Title, Settling Requisitions
and directing searches
(without settling deed),
Deduct £2-2-0.
(3) Where counsel is required to give further
advice on any point arising from the Requisitions
on Title or replies thereto or otherwise, £4-4-0.
(4) Advising vendor on title and settling con–
tract or conditions of sale :
The scale set out at
(1) above shall apply.
(5) Considering
requisitions on
title,
settling
answers thereto and approving draft conveyance
on behalf of vendor.
(a) Where counsel has not settled the contract
or conditions of sale :
Such fee as shall be appropriate having re–
gard to the scale set out at (1) above.
(b) Where counsel has settled the contract or
conditions of sale, £5-5-0.
(6) Settling any deed, £6-6-0.
Note
:
The above fees are
minimum
fees and
apply only in simple cases.
The existence of any of the circumstances set
out below justify charging a fee in addition to
that chargeable under the foregoing scale :
(1) Difficulty in the title.
(2) The perusal of
an unusual number of
documents.
(3) Absence of proper abstract or precis to title.
(4) Furnishing of original documents or copies
in a form other than typewritten copies.
(5) The time within which the work is required
to be completed.
DUBLIN CORPORATION —
SEALING OF DOCUMENTS
Members in Dublin who have raised queries about
the delay in the sealing of documents with the
Dublin Corporation may be unaware of the ad–
ministrative machine through which documents
must pass before being sealed. The Corporation
officials have informed us that there is a sealing
once in each week. Before a document can be
sealed a managerial order authorising the use of
the Corporation seal must be made. This order is
made by the manager or one of the assistant city
managers at a meeting held in the Wednesday of
each week. In order therefore that a managerial
authorisation may be given to have a document
sealed it is in the interest of members to lodge the
document requiring sealing on the Thursday before
the managers' meeting on a Wednesday.
Although documents are
lodged
in
the
law
agent's office delays may arise from a number of
circumstances. One factor of particular impor–
tance is the fact that the Corporation offices are
not all situated in one building but are scattered
throughout the city.
Before the seal of the Corporation is affixed to
a deed it must be witnessed by the Lord Mayor.
The Lord Mayor's attendance at the City Hall
for this purpose depends on his other commit–
ments. Before a sealed document can be returned
from the Corporation an entry must be made in
the seal book in which are recorded all documents
which are sealed and the dates on which the seal
is affixed. A further delay may be caused by the
necessity of having memorials sworn. On average
the minimum period within which documents can
be sealed and returned is between two and three
weeks.
Some of the complaints raised by members re–
lated to the sealing of releases of mortgages. In
this matter the Corporation unlike most private
commercial concerns is bound by statute and pay–
ment of the outstanding monies must first be
made before a managerial order will be made to
have the document sealed. No difficulty arises
where a building society is prepared to close the
sale and wait for the deed of release. Some buil–
ding societies will not close a sale unless the deed
of release is handed over on closing. An immediate
reaction to the foregoing is that the statutes and
regulations governing the sealing and procedural
requirements of local authorities stand in urgent
need of
review. They should be amended
to
bring them into line with today's requirements.
The affixing of a seal is really a formality. The
mind that directs the hand that affixes the seal of
a large Corporation usually knows nothing about
the substance or contents of the document sealed.
Everything has already been done. Why should
the personal attendance of the Lord Mayor, over–
burdened with other work, be required? In our
view this purely administrative function should
be performed by named permanent officials at a
sufficiently responsible level.
LAND REGISTRY
On any application to the Land Registry to regis–
ter a transfer, a transmission on death or a charge
and where the title registered is or is deemed to
be possessory and the ownership of the land has
been registered for more than thirty years the
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