The Gazette 1979

APRIL

1979

GA Z E T TE

DUBLIN SOLICITORS' BAR ASSOCIATION

Report of a lecture on TITLE INSURANCE given by Paul McNamara of the firm of Czaplar & Bok, Attorneys at Law, Boston, Massachussetts.

It would seem that due to the more complicated nature of conveyancing in the States and the lack of Statutory Protection as to periods of Title that the Title Indemnity is more appropriate in the States than it could be here. DUBLIN SOLICITORS BAR ASSOCIATION CORRECT FEE ON RESIDENTIAL LETTING AGREEMENTS The Association recently submitted to the Law Society a query as to the correct basis of charging fees for residential fiat and house letting agreements. The Professional Purposes Committee of the Law Society has pointed out that the proper charge is the scale fee appropriate to the rent under the Solicitors Remuneration Act as set out in the Society's Handbook. The Committee indicated that the Society did not object to the continuation of the tradition of charging only nominal fees when acting for a tenant taking a short term letting of residential property either furnished or unfurnished. 1 %INTEREST ^ TAX NOT ^ DEDUCTED Fixed Interest Rates on Deposits over £25,000 DETAILS ON REQUEST (jtv ol Dublin Kink oilers ,i c omplete B.inkinq Service 'DETOSI'I ACCOUNTS *CURRF.NT ACCOUNI FACILITIES *SI IOR'1 ANDMEDIUM TERM LOANS *INSTAI .MEN"! CREDIT FACILITIES C I T Y O F D U B L I N k R A N I L * V 198 | Lower Merrion Street, Dublin 2 Telephone 760141. Telex 41!

Mr. McNamara recently gave a short lecture to the Dublin Solicitors' Bar Association in Blackhall Place. The main points of his lecture were:— 1. Lawyers in Boston, Massachssetts and generally in New England have a monopoly on conveyancing as in Ireland. This does not apply to Lawyers in other newer areas such as California and the Mid-West where the work is done by non-qualified persons and it was in these areas that the idea of Title Insurance first came up. The spread of Title Insurance came to Boston around the 1960's as a result of an inflow of money from the West into the East. The financial institutions insisted on also getting Title Insurance. 2. The Title Insurance is an extra. It is not a substitute for Lawyers and Lawyers are still liable under the Negligence Policy. Title Insurance only covers defects on Title which would not have appeared to the Lawyer. It can cover delays in completion or claims being made against the property for Planning breaches or liens. In Boston they have the situation that when a person carries out work to a property he may get a lien against the property for his fees involved, and these give rise to a number of problems. 3. It appears that their search of Title does not have any Statutory protection as given to Lawyers in Ireland under the 1881 Act. Accoringly they have to search back 50 to 60 years to get a good root of Title. They do not have our Statutory period of 40 years. Similarly for adverse possession the period is around 20 years unlike our 12 year period. The important point is that the Indemnity is in addition to the normal cover. It is the Lawyer who negotiates this cover and it is in addition to his own Negligence Policy. The Insurance Cover is given on the basis of the Lawyer's Certificate of Title. He negotiates the terms with the Insurance Company and he determines what cover is taken out. The cost in the United States at the moment runs at around 3 dollars per 1,000 dollars cover effected and in the U.K. it is around £2.50 per £1,000.00 cover effected. 4. The similarity between the registration of Title in Boston and Dublin is remarkable in that they have both registered and un-registered Title and that Lawyers have a monopoly on conveyancing. Title Insurance is now common in Boston expecially in commercial transactions and it enables the Lawyer for the Purchaser or Borrower also to act for the Lending Institution upon him producing the Title Indemnity Policy. The terms of the Policy whilst they are negotiated by the Lawyer are effective only during the currency of the particular ownership, that is they do not run with the Title but as soon as the insured has passed on his Title the Policy lapses, or ends. 40