The Gazette 1979

GAZETTE

SEPTEMBER 1979

14.7 Against this background of increasing E.E.C. impact on our company law, the Committee has for the first time this year sent a representative to the Special Committee on Company Law of the Commission Consultative des Barreaux de la Communauté Européenne. This provides a useful direct channel of communication for representative company law practitioners of the Community with the Commission. It is now dealing with the Seventh Directive on group accounts and with insider trading. The development of this contact is very helpful for the work of the Company Law Committee.

Regular meetings of the Committee have been held during the year. 15.1 Requisitions on Title: The Society's new form of Requisitions on Title have been in print for some months. There were a few teething problems but these have now been eliminated. The Requisitions which deal in a comprehensive way with the increas- ingly complicated areas of planning, capital taxes and Family Home Protection Act have been well received. Specialist Requisitions such as licencing have been omitted and members were recommended to retain a few copies of the old Requisitions for reference in this respect. 15.2 Sale of Flats: The preparation of a specimen set of documents is still in hand. It is hoped to have a report on this complicated matter issued to the profession within the next few months. 15.3 Construction Industry Federation: A sub-committee, in conjunction with representatives of the Dublin Solicitors' Bar Association (DSBA) have been meeting with the CIF working on a proposed recommended form of building contract for spec-built houses. About ten working meetings have taken place and very considerable progress has been made. It is hoped that the contract will be launched before the end of the year. 15.4 National House Building Gauarantee Scheme (NHBGS): The Committee has been endeavouring to anticipate problems which might arise out of the proposal by the main building societies to lend in general only to builders who are registered under this scheme. The main difficulty foreseen was that mortgagees' solicitors might insist upon the guarantee certificate being available upon completion of the mortgage. It is anticipated that this would be likely to cause delays in view of the fact that the guarantee certificates will not be issued until a final inspection has been carried out by the inspector of the Department of the Environment. It is hoped that solicitors for building societies will be instructed by their cliants merely to satisfy themselves that the builder is a registered builder and that the National House Building Guarantee Agreement has been entered into in respect of the house. A number of different meetings have been held with represen- tatives of the NHBGS and a joint approach has been agreed. 15.5 New Houses: Architects' Certificates: As mentioned last year, a specimen form of architect's certificate was proposed for adoption by the solicitors for the main lending institutions and by the Institute of Architects. A form of this was finally agreed and details were published in the November 1978 issue of the Gazette. 15.6 New Houses: A rchitects' Certificates: The Committee recommended that it was not reasonable for solicitors acting for a purchaser or mortgagee to require the furnishing of an architect's certificate in respect of a house which was built at a time when it was not general practice to furnish these certificates. The Committee took the view that it became general practice to furnish such certificates in the year 1970 and that it was unreasonable for solicitors to look for certificates in respect of houses built prior to that year. 15.7 New Houses: Capital Gains Tax: Enquiries were received by members about the correct procedure in relation to Capital Gains Tax clearance certificates where acting for the purchaser of a new house when the price exceeds £50,000. A note was approved for publication in the Gazette , detailing the position, which appears to be as follows. Where there is an agreement for the purchase of a site and that agreement is separate from and unconnected with another agreement to erect a building on a site, a CGT clearance certificate is not required for the protection of a purchaser, unless the price of the site itself exceeds £50,000. If the contracts comprise a combined building agreement and agreement for lease, or if separate contracts are interconnected, then if the total consideration exceeds £50,000 the solicitor for the purchaser must insist on getting a CGT clearance certificate or make the deduction prescribed by the CGT Act 1975.

CONVEYANCING COMMITTEE

Rory O'Donnell Eric Brunker John F. Buckley Maurice Curran Patrick Fagan William Fallon Ernest Farrell John Gore-Grimes Rory McEntee Frank Murphy W. A. Osborne Moya Qulnlan Brian Russell Joseph Sweeney John Maher P. C. Moore

Chairman

Rory O'Donnell Chairman

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