120 / 328
consideration and then forwarded to the Department
of Justice together with any amendments as soon as
possible.
International Bar Association
Ninth International Conference
The President and the immediate Past President
were appointed as the Society's delegates to the
conference at Edinburgh.
Costs in Land Registry matters
A member acted for a person entitled in fee simple
on the death of the limited owner of registered land.
The property involved consisted of four farms of
registered land each of which exceeded
£1,000
in
value. Each of the holdings was registered on a
separate folio and the Land Registry assessed the
fees on each holding separately on the application
of member's client for registration. The fees were
not assessed on the total value of the lands. Member
enquired if he should charge his costs on the basis
that he was dealing with four separate holdings or
as if he were dealing with one holding, the total
value of which exceeds
£1,000.
On a report from
a committee it was decided that in the opinion of the
Council the matter should be treated by member
as one transaction for the purposes of costs.
Member
also made
three
further
enquiries
concerning Land Registry costs.
They were
(i) What costs should be charged by a solicitor
acting for the registered owner of two or more
holdings which are being transferred at the same
time by means of a Deed of Voluntary Transfer ?
Should the costs be assessed as if only one holding
of the total valuation of the entire lands was being
transferred, or should the costs be assessed in
respect of each holding separately ?
(li) What costs should be charged by a vendor's
solicitor and a purchaser's solicitor where two or
more holdings of registered land have been sold
or purchased together by the same client ?
In this
case the title to each holding may (and probably
would be) entirely different so that an investigation
of the title of each holding would be necessary. A
further variation of this problem will arise where
a vendor or purchaser sells or purchases a holding,
portion of which is registered land and portion of
which is unregistered land.
(iii) What costs are chargeable by a vendor's or a
purchaser's solicitor on the sale of two or more
holdings of land described in one folio where the
registration is subject to equities and the lands were
originally vested in different'tenant purchasers under
the Land Purchase Acts ?
In this case there would in fact be a separate
investigation of title for each holding.
On a report from the committee it was decided
that the answers to member's queries should be
given as follows :
(i) A transfer by registered owner of two or more
holdings by a deed of voluntary transfer should be
treated as one transaction by the solicitor acting for
the registered owner for the purpose of costs.
(li) and (iii) Where separate titles are furnished
or investigated the solicitor acting for the vendor or
purchaser or as the case may be is entitled to treat
each of the titles separately for the purpose of
charging costs.
Particulars Delivered Stamp Costs
Members acted for the vendors in the sale of a
plot of registered land to a local authority. The
annuity payable in respect of the lands had been
redeemed in 1917. The County Council undertook
to pay the vendor's costs and in furnishing their bill
a fee was included for having the P.D. stamp im
pressed by members. The local authority's solicitors
took exception to this fee and stated that the P.D.
stamp was not required to be affixed in Land
Registry cases. Members then wrote to the Society
for guidance on the matter.
The obligation to have the P.D. stamp impressed
is imposed by section 4 of the Finance (1909-10)
Act, 1910, as amended by the Finance Act, 1920.
The former Act imposed the increment value duty
and the latter Act abolished the duty but did not
take away the liability to furnish particulars to the
Commissioners and to have the stamp impressed.
The section also provides that a deed is not to be
deemed to have been properly stamped unless it has
a P.D. stamp impressed. Regulations made by the
Commissioners of Inland Revenue provided that
conveyances to which the Land Purchase (Ireland)
Acts apply which are fo be registered under the
Local Registration of Title (Ireland) Act, 1891, need
not be presented for the purpose of having the
stamp impressed.
It is understood, however, that
the Stamp Office consider that the P.D. stamp
should be impressed where the annuity has been
redeemed.
The Council, on a report from a committee,
decided that in this case member was entitled to
charge for having the P.D. stamp affixed having
regard to the view of the Revenue Commissioners
in the matter. Furthermore, in view of the provisions
of the statutes the P.D. stamp should be affixed in
all cases whether required by the Revenue Com
missioners or not where there is a transfer of
registered land and the solicitor affixing the stamp
is, consequently, entitled to the usual fee.