The Gazette 1978

GAZETTE

JULY-AUGUST

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Law Society Notes The Provision of agreed Medical Reports Meetings were held recently between representatives of the Council of the Law Society and of the Federation of Insurers of Ireland, with a view to reaching agreement on procedures which would have the effect of minimising the cost incurred in obtaining medical reports and the costs and difficulty in procuring the attendance of medical witnesses at the trial of personal injury actions. Arising out of these meetings, the Society recommends to its members the adoption of the following procedures which have the approval of the Federation of Insurers of Ireland, viz.: 1. The Plaintiffs solicitor will furnish to the Defendant's solicitors or Insurers, on a strictly Without Prejudice basis, copies of all his client's medical reports for consideration. These may be adopted on behalf of the Defendant and render independent examinations unnecessary. 2. If no reports are available or made available, independent examination will proceed, by agreement without the Plaintiffs doctor or surgeon in attendance, otherwise in the ordinary way, copies of the ensuing report or reports being made available to the Plaintiffs solicitor, again on a Without Prejudice basis. 3. Each party should endeavour, where possible, to agree to the admission of the other party's medical reports in evidence at the trial of the action. 4. Where no agreement is reached, each party may call medical evidence on its own behalf in die usual way. While the Society hopes that whenever possible the foregoing procedure will be adopted, whether or not it is adopted is at the discretion of the solicitor for the parties and subject to the consent of their clients in any particular case. [Note that the title which appeared at the head of this note in the April, 1978, issue of the GAZETTE was incorrect.] Standard Forms of Undertaking The attention of members is drawn to the recent pub- lication of the Society's standard forms of undertaking. They are available in pad form and may be obtained from the Society at either Blackhall Place or the Four Courts at a charge of £5.00 (per 50) inclusive of postage. Employment Register In recent weeks the Society has proved very successful in placing newly-qualified solictors who have placed their names on the Employment Register. Most of the positions which have been filled have been outside the Dublin area but there still remain a number of vacancies. Solicitors in search of employment are encouraged to enter their names on the Employment Register at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7. \

Stamp Duty on New Houses It was pointed out in the memorandum published in the g a z e t t e of the Society dated November 1976 (Vol. 70, No. 9), that, even if the contract for sale or lease of a site and a building contract are not linked in any way, ad valorem stamp duty would be chargeable, if, at the time the contracts were entered into, the house was "substantially completed". It has been found in practice that the ascertainment of the facts necessary to determine whether that stage had been reached and, finally, to get agreement to that effect has proved difficult and contentious, involving queries and delays, frustrating to practitioners and the Revenue Com- missioners alike. With a view to limiting the area ofdispute and minimising such delays, the Commissioners are prepared to accept that, prior to substantial roof-tiling, no question of ad valorem duty being payable would arise subject, of course, to evidence satisfactory to them to that effect being produced. In other words, where a house has been completed up to and including felting only, ad valorem duty would not be payable; if, on the other hand, the house had been fully tiled, ad valorem duty would be payable. To anticipate the situation where, in between those two stages, the roof is left partly untiled so that it could be claimed that the roof had not been tiled (to enable further works to continue), the test will be whether or not the roof is substantially tiled. This test is mainly a question offact and one which, while not guaranteed to eliminate all problems, is designed to narrow the areas of dispute and to reduce delays. In any such cases where exemption from the payment of ad valorem stamp duty on the purchase of a house is sought, the processing of the case would be expedited if, at the time of lodgment of the instruments for stamping, a certificate from an architect or engineer were furnished setting out in detail the work done on and the then stage of construction of the house. The^contract for sale or lease of the site and the building contract which are normally referred to in the certificate should, or course, be lodged at the same time. Ifsuch certificates were forthcoming from a solicitor who was personally aware of the facts, it would go a long way towards reducing, if not eliminating, the necessity for any further enquiries, thus leading to the speedly finalisation of the case. As pointed out in the previous memo, the Revenue Com- missioners may require certificates to be verified by Statutory Declarations or other evidence in any particular case. In cases which are clearcut (for example, if the house is completed up to and including felting only) and acceptable evidence is furnished to the Revenue Commissioners to that effect, it will no longer be necessary to furnish a valuation of the portion of the house then completed at the date the contract was signed. Such evidence might be a helpful factor in a borderline case. These observations do not purport to have legal effect and they are solely for the purpose of facilitating practitioners. The Revenue Commissioners reserve theright to investigate any particular transaction and, if necessary, to have spot checks carried out to ensure that the arrangement does not provide a means of avoidance of duty.

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