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GAZETTE
OCTOBER 1978
CONVEYANCING
COMMITTEE
j / R o r y O'Donndl
Eric Brunker
John F. Buckley
Maurice Curran
P. Fagan
Ernest Farrell
John Bore-Grimes
John Maher
Patrick C. Moore
Frank Murphy
Brian Russell
J. Sweeney
Chairman
17.1
Regular meetings of the Committee have been held during the year. In May
1978 Mr. Rory O'Donnell succeeded Mr. W. A. Osborne as Chairman of the
Committee. As was said at the particular Committee meeting, tribute must be paid to Mr.
Osborne for his sterling work as Chairman since the Committee was established.
17.2
Requisitions on Title:
Despite its best endeavours, it was not possible for the
Committee to come up with a new standard set of requisitions prior to the year-end. After
numerous delays and difficulties, the matter is now well in hand and it is hoped to have the
new edition available in the very near future.
17.3
Sale of Flats:
Hopes that the specimen set of documents referred to in last year's
report would enable progress to be made were found to be unreal. No real progress
could be made until the two new Landlord and Tenant Acts became law and conclusions
on the best approach have now been reached. It is a complicated task and it will take
some time before it can be completed.
17.4
Construction Industry Federation:
A sub-committee are discussing with the
Federation the issue of-agreed explanatory material on the National Housebuilding
Guarantee Scheme and the proposed agreed form of Building Agreement.
17.5
Stamp Duty on New Houses:
Because of difficulties members found in the
methods and standards applied by the Revenue Commissioners Stamps Branch it was
necessary to have several meetings with the Revenue Commissioners. Two notices were
issued to the profession. The first dealt with the revised stage of construction which the
Revenue Commissioners are now insisting upon in non-exempt new houses (bona fide roof
level) and the other related to the yardstick being applied by the Revenue Commissioners
to the values being put on building sites.
17.6
Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors:
The Chartered Surveyors being
involved in the management of flat developments have made certain very helpful sugges-
tions regarding the proposed specimen flat scheme. Meetings took place during the year
on matters of mutual interest and certain of these are the subject of continuing discussion
on a sub-committee basis. The principal items on which mutual problems arise are in
relation to matters in rack-rent leases, the main ones being rent reviews, insurance and
service charges.
17.7
New Houses — Specimen Architect's Certificate:
A specimen Architect's
Certificate had been settled by the Committee and agreed with the working party of the
Institute of Architects. Due to the reluctance of the Institute to approve the form, further
discussions were necessary and an acceptable revised form has been agreed and is to be
put before the Council of the Institute for approval. When approved the text of the
Certificate will be circulated both to the architects and to members.
17.8
Land Registry and Registry of Deeds:
Regular contact has been maintained
over the year with offices of the Land Registry. The contact has been most useful in
speeding up the work of the Land Registry and the Committee would like to express its
appreciation to the staff concerned. It is happy to record that the situation in the Land
Registry shows a significant improvement by comparison with last year. Representations
have been made to the Minister for Justice regarding the unsatisfactory situation in the
Registry of Deeds and hopefully remedial action will be taken.
17.9
Landlord and Tenant Legislation:
A significant amount of the Committee's
time during the year, in conjunction with that of the Parliamentary Committee, was
devoted to an examination of the Bills and to discussions with officers of the Department
of Justice thereon. As required, the members were alerted to pending developments.
17.10
C.R.V.s:
The Committee kept the situation under review during the year. At
the close of the year the recent changes in Government policy in relation to C.R.V.S were
being examined by the Committee with a view to eliminating difficulties for members. The
recent changes have resulted in two new forms of C.R.V.s being issued by the
Department which would not exempt the purchaser of a house or flat from stamp duty.
There is no note on the face of these to indicate which C.R.V. would exempt a Purchase
Deed from stamp duty and which would not. The Department's method of distinguishing
the types of certificates was by using different coloured paper. Since most C.R.V.s relate
to more than one house, solicitors will be receiving only photocopies with obvious
difficulty. A notice to draw the attention of members to the problems has been circulated
and attempts are also being made to convince the Department of the Environment to put
a clear note on the C .R.V.s detailing its effect from the point of view of stamp duty. It has
not been the universal practice of solicitors to insist upon seeing C.R.V.S before contract
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