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GAZETTE
JULY
permanent residence. Each letter should expressly state
that the Bank has no claims on the certificate in question.
There can be no general relaxation of Rules relating to the
issue of duplicate certificates because of the importance of
protecting lenders from unnecessary risks of loss through
fraud. An indemnity should also be given to the Registrar
in respect of any costs or loss he may suffer by reason of
the issue of the new duplicate Land Certificate.
Incidentally, where the Land Certificate has been lost in a
solicitors office the indemnity seems to be invariably
included in the Affidavit of the Registered Owner, and not
that of the solicitor — which seems unfair. Applications
for the issue of new Land Certificates to replace Land
Certificates stated to have been lost or destroyed are
increasing greatly in numbers and cause much trouble
and delay to all parties.
Land Certificates have been the cause of many
difficulties and delays in Registration. This is probably
why at least one eminent member of the profession has
suggested that Land Certificates should be abolished.
But the utility of the Land Certificate as a convenient
means of raising loans or securing other facilities and its
value as some evidence of the owner's Title means that
Registered Owners would not willingly see it abolished.
Such a change in any case would require amendments to
the Act.
A solicitor's lien for costs on Land Certificates is a lien
on the Certificate and not on the registered property. This
lien is not a security which creates a lien on the land as an
Equitable Mortgage would. It extends to all costs due by
the client, not for any particular transaction, and of
course it cannot be greater than the right which the client
has over the property.
The Land Certificate is a certificate of title so when
tenants-in-common are registered each may acquire
separate Land Certificates showing his interest.
Ownership of a burden is not certified on a Land
Certificate.
REGISTRY MAPS
Sections 84 and 89 of the Act deal with the Registry
Maps and the boundaries thereto and the relevant Rules
are 174 and 176. The map is fundamental to the whole
concept of registration and that it should be accurate and
correct is of the utmost importance to applicants and all
who deal with registered land.
Registered land is described by the names of the
denominations on the Ordnance Survey map and by
reference to such maps. We have great problems with the
older sheets in our office, they go back of course to 1891,
most of them are the 6 inch Ordnance Sheets. Ova* the
decades they have been constantly handled and used so
that many of them are worn or defaced or are almost
indecipherable. As we are an office of record, to protect
the map and to preserve the value of the registration for
future generations we maintain a unit in our Mapping
Department which is occupied full time with the
restoration and reconstruction of the old sheets.
This is very painstaking work and slow but it is
essential. The dozen or so menbers of the staff engaged
full time on this task would of course be much better
employed dealing with current work if we had no thought
to the future. We have at all times to strike a balance
between expediting and speeding current registration and
preserving and keeping our records in the best possible
condition. As the aim of the Ordnance Survey is to
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have eventually only 25 inch sheets covering the whole
country and consequently fewer holdings on any one
sheet the amount of handling each sheet will be that much
less. We also have a machine now which provides a linen
backing for the sheets to strengthen and preserve them.
We hope that the filed plan system will be extended
further which with other advantages has much less
handling and wear and tear on the maps.
The first County to have the filed plan system in
operation is County Carlow. This is nearly completed
now. It was a pilot scheme and the lessons learned there
should help us when we move into other areas.
The metric maps (63 inches to one mile) are coming
into general use for Dublin, Cork and Limerick cities and
they have the National Grid values printed on them.
National Grid values should eventually replace the
existing method of referencing properties on the Land
Registry maps.
Rule 177 deals with the persons who may represent an
Infant Under Section 57 of the Succession Act the
personal representatives may appoint such persons. If
they do not they themselves are the Trustees. Where
nobody has been appointed the Registrar has under Rule
178 to appoint a person to represent an infant.
Rule 179 deals with persons of unsound mind.
Where a person claims a lien by way of equitable
mortgage on a document required by an applicant for first
registration or conversion of title he may lodge it subject
to lien with a claim to the lien in Form 97 signed by
himself or his solicitor. This is under Rule 180. We would
register the applicant with possessory title and the lien
would be protected by Section 72(l)(k).
Under Section 94 of the Act, the Registrar has power
to require persons who have custody of Deeds or Wills
affecting a title to show cause why they should not be
produced and, unless satisfactory cause is shown, to order
that they be produced.
Documents to be retained and filed in the Registry are
set out in Rule 181.
The Registrar may deliver to a solicitor an instrument
dealing with property — other than a charge —on the
solicitor certifying that it is required for a hearing in
Court or before a Taxing Master or County Registrar for
the purposes of a taxation and undertaking in writing to
return it within a fixed time, Rule 184.
Rules 185, 186 and 187 deal with the transmission of
filed documents to the Local Registrar for production in
Court.
Rule 188 deals with the inspection of filed documents.
At one time under various decided cases it seemed that
the filed instrument might be inspected by any person.
However, the Registry's view is that set out in Mr.
McAllister's book. The Rule now limits the right to
inspection. No one except those with a genuine interest
should be allowed to inspect them.
Any person may, of course, inspect the Maps, indexes
and the Folios on payment of the prescribed fee.
SEARCHES
Searches are Official Searches and Priority Searches.
Note that in the Priority Search the person requiring the
search must already have entered into a contract. A
solicitor who obtains a Certificate of the result of the
official search is not liable for loss that may arise from
any error therein. See Rule 195.
# Concluded on page 110.