38 / 266
simple in remainder to B. O’N. with a gift over
o f the remainder estate to a child or children of
said B. O’N. on the happening o f events. Accord
ingly the interest conveyed to D.A. is also contingent
for the same reason. . . . It is proposed to effect
the registration as per enclosed draft.
I f you
approve, kindly lodge a consent on behalf o f the
parties to the proposed registration.” Four complex
deeds lie behind the proposed entry—all dated long
after the first registration.
3. Costs o f transfers other than transfers on sale
by a registered owner or his personal representa
tive.
The experience o f country solicitors is that the
present scale o f costs for voluntary transfers
contained in the Schedule of Costs, Part 1 at Page 123
o f the Land Registration Rules, 1937 (as amended
by the Land Registration Rules, 1949) is unre-
munerative. This Schedule, which relates to transfers
otherwise than on sale, compares badly with the
scale on transfers on sale. The scale fee on a transfer
on sale at a price of £100 is £ 10 , whereas the revised
scale on a voluntary transfer of land is only
£z
13 s. 4d. The following is an illustration of
the scales :
Price or Value Sale Voluntary Transfers
£ IO°
£10
£2
13
4
£400
£5
6
8
£1,000
£40
£9
6
8
It may be contended that the discharge o f equitid,
does not necessarily apply on voluntary tran sfers;
but even h alf the fee on a transfer o f sale is still
more than double the fee on a voluntary transfers
taking price in each case as equal to value.
Th e Council submit that the definition o f “ value”
in Rule
245
o f L .R .R ., 19 37, is out o f date, and
that it operates so as to unduly reduce the remunera
tion o f solicitors fo r the preparation o f settlements
and voluntary transfers. B y this rule the value o f
land fo r the purpose o f costs o f voluntary transfers
is in practice either (
a
) twenty-five times the
P.L.V.
o f the property, or (
b)
the capital value o f the
property as ascertained by a T axin g Master. It is
common know ledge that land has not been revalued
fo r over h alf a century, and, while present rateable
valuations may be satisfactory enough fo r rates
assessments when the poundage may be raised to
produce a given amount o f rates, present valuations
bear no true relation to current property values.
Th is becomes obvious by a comparison o f present
day agricultural prices w ith those o f 1939. The
Council, therefore, believe their statement that
the present formula o f twenty-five times the P.L.V .
is now completely out o f date as a measure of
value cannot be questioned.
The proposals of the Council are as follows :
The rules should be altered so as to provide that
the costs o f a voluntary transfer or settlement of
registered land should be an amount equal to the
P.L.V . of the property,
or,
at the option o f the
solicitor, a commission scale fee o f
£ z
on the
capital value of the property as ascertained by a
Taxing Master,
or,
at the option o f the solicitor,
detailed charges under Schedule 2, subject to a
minimum fee o f
£ j
7s. in any case.
4. In support of the alterations proposed above
reference is made to the following matters :
(a)
The progressive increase in Solicitors’ office
expenses since 1939, an increase which has
•become accentuated in the past two years.
Since 1947 the Government has set up a
statutory body known as the Law Clerks’
Joint Labour Committee which has power
to fix statutory scales o f wages and conditions
o f employment for all employees in solicitors’
offices. The orders made by this Committee
have had the effect o f increasing office wages
and salaries by amounts ranging from 50%
to 100%.
Stationery, printing and paper,
which at one time was not a serious item in
solicitors’ office bills, has now been multiplied
to six or seven times the 1939 figure. Paper
which cost 3s. 6d. pre-war in some cases
would now cost 25s. to 30s. Apart from
solicitors’ personal living expenses, the cost
o f every commodity used in their offices
has risen steeply.
Wages have increased
substantially. Earnings have not increased
to any comparable extent.
(b)
It is common knowledge that the farming
community is more prosperous at the present
time than ever before. The profits of public
and private companies have also increased to
a much greater extent than professional
incomes. The following figures, taken from
the Table o f National Incomes and Expendi
ture, 1950, published by the Government
Publications Office, show the trend of money
incomes in the agricultural and industrial
groups as compared with professional earnings
down to 1949. There is little doubt that the
tendency shown by these figures between
1938 and 1949 has been accentuated in 1950,
1951 and 1952: