The Gazette 1952-1955

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:

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