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GAZETTE
APRIL 1980
Dublin Solicitors' Bar Association
Registry of Deeds
The Association has been engaged in correspondence
with the Registry of Deeds with a view to reducing delays
in the comparison and registration of Deeds.
The Assistant Registrar has explained that delays in
comparison were due to the combination of a number of
factors, including above — average levels of lodgements
following the postal strike. £xtra staff have been assigned
to the office and already considerable progress has been
made in reducing the arrears, resulting in a noticeable
improvement from behind the Solicitor's desk.
The Assistant Registrar took the opportunity of
pointing out that a proportion of the delay was inevitably
caused by material appearing to be defective at
comparison stage and having to be returned to the
Solicitors concerned. The most frequent defects are:
(i) failure to complete the Memorial by the
accurate inclusion of the execution and
witnessing of the Deed;
(ii) incomplete description of the premises;
(iii) defects in the Affidavit or Jurat.
In future, in order to minimise delay, the staff of the
Comparison office have been instructed to make a brief
examination of all Memorials, to check for the more usual
shortcomings. Only if a Memorial passes this
examination, will comparison proceed.
It was pointed out to the Assistant Registrar that his
Staff had introduced, without warning or apparent
authority, a practice rule that the particulars of execution
and witnessing included in Memorials should be
typewritten, instead of being inserted in handwriting.
For clarity, we set out the following practical guide
lines, observance of which will greatly facilitate the
Registry staffs:—
1. The body of the Memorial, as well as the
partilulars of execution and witnessing, should be
typewritten, for maximum legibility.
2. The Deed and its Memorial should have a
properly detailed description of the premises.
3. Ensure that the Deed and its Memorial are
properly witnessed and that the Affidavit of the
attesting witness and the Jurat to that Affidavit are
both properly completed and dated.
As a further practical aid to the completion of Memorials,
we would remind Solicitors acting for Purchasers to
obtain on closing detailed particulars of the witnesses to
the Vendor's execution of the purchase Deed and
Memorial.
The Association has also been discussing with the
Registry of Deeds the possibility of procuring Searches by
post.
This proposal was made by the Assiatant Registrar,
who invited the Association to consider it and to let him
know its views. The Conveyancing Committee of the
Association was unanimously in favour of the suggestion
and is so informing the Registrar.
The broad basis of the arrangement would be that the
Requisition for Search would be lodged by post, together
with a standard fee. When the Search was ready, it would
be certified by the Registry and returned by post to the
Solicitors. When the sale had been completed and the
closing act registered, the Purchaser's Solicitors would
relodge the Search, with a standard fee, so that it could be
continued and closed as heretofore. It would then be
returned to the Solicitor by post.
This system would link satisfactorily with a further
proposal that Registry of Deeds fees should, so far as
possible, be standardised.
Dublin Corporation and Dublin County Council
Mortgages
The Association, after lengthy discussion and
consideration, has procured the agreement of the Dublin
Corporation and of the Dublin Councy Council to the
execution of Releases of Mortgage in advance of actual
repayment.
The practice should obviate the extensive delays, which
have become standard, in procuring executed Releases
after
the Mortgage debt has been repaid.
For either the Dublin Corporation or the Dublin
County Council to arrange the sealing of a Release of
Mortgage in advance of repayment, the following must be
observed:—
1. There must be a specific written request from the
Borrower or his Solicitor to seal the Release in
advance of repayment, together with an assurance
that the repayment moneys are or soon will be made
available.
2. The Borrower and his Solicitor must confirm in
writing that if repayment is not made within three
months of the sealing of the Release, the Release
may be cancelled and destroyed by the Local
Authority.
3. The sealed Release must remain in the custody of the
Local Authority until repayment is made.
Company Formation
Considerable difficulty has been experienced by the
profession in recent years in procuring the approval of the
companies Office to the proposed names of intended new
Companies. The practice has become general of
submitting for approval several alternative proposed
names, in the hope that one of them may be acceptable.
Notwithstanding the submission of alternatives, problems
are still arising with what is, apparently, even greater
frequency.
While the Association appreciates the necessity to
ensure, as far as is reasonably possible, that Companies
are so named as to avoid possible confusion between
them, it is felt that the present system must be capable of
modification in order to assist the practitioner in what
now is, in many cases, a real difficulty.
The Association is pressing the Registrar of
Companies to assist the profession by indicating
with greater precision why his staff have refused any
particular name or names and to indicate in any such
circumstances, what combination of the relevant or
"key" words in any proposed name would be acceptable.
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