Skip to main content
Beauchamps Close
Back

  • B-Connect
  • About us
    • About Beauchamps
    • Client service
    • Core values
    • Corporate social responsibility
    • History
    • Knowledge management
    • Partnerships
  • Our People
  • Our services

    Practice Areas

    • Banking & Finance
    • Commercial Property
    • Company Secretarial
    • Construction
    • Corporate & Commercial
    • Corporate Governance & Company Compliance
    • Crisis Management
    • Data Protection & Freedom of Information
    • Employment & Benefits
    • Energy & Natural Resources
    • EU, Competition & Procurement
    • Financial Services & Regulation
    • Insolvency & Corporate Restructuring
    • Insurance & Professional Indemnity
    • Inward Investment
    • Litigation & Dispute Resolution
    • Medical Negligence and Personal Injury*
    • Mergers & Acquisitions

    Sectors

    • Brexit
    • Charities & Not For Profit
    • Energy & Natural Resources
    • Family Business
    • Financial Services
    • Food & Agri
    • Healthcare
    • Housing
    • Real Estate
    • Retail
    • Sport
    • Technology & Communications
    View All Services
  • What's new
    • Beauchamps - proud sponsor of and official legal adviser to Leinster Rugby
    • Brexit Update
    • Doing business in Ireland
    • General Data Protection Regulation
    • The Companies Act 2014
    • Covid-19 Updates
  • Careers
    • Why join Beauchamps?
    • Current opportunities
    • Lawyers
    • Business services
    • Intern & trainee programmes
Contact Search
Search Menu
Beauchamps
Search Menu
What's new

A new process for property transfers in Ireland

20 Aug 2019

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. What's new
  3. Publication

Share

In Ireland, the Law Society of Ireland's General Conditions of Sale are typically incorporated into all contracts for sale of property. 

The General Conditions deal with the seller’s title to the property and contain standard provisions relating to such matters as the identity and condition of the property, planning and completion matters. The General Conditions also contain warranties and representations on the part of the seller about the property. The parties may vary the general conditions by inserting special conditions in the contract.

Before 1 January 2019 it was common practice to investigate the sellers title to the property after the contract for sale was signed.  The Law Society of Ireland's updated General Conditions for 2019 (the 2019 General Conditions) implement investigation of title prior to entering into a binding contract.

General Conditions of Sale 2019

Under the new system, the seller's solicitor will prepare replies to standard Law Society Requisitions on Title and will furnish the complete copy title, the replies to requisitions and the draft contract to the buyer’s solicitor (under the previous system, this happened post-contract). The seller is obliged to disclose all easements, rights and other matters affecting the property that he is aware of having made reasonable enquiries. The buyer's solicitor will then investigate the title and raise such enquiries as they deem appropriate. Where the seller has incomplete information, this will put the buyer on notice to carry out further enquiries.  When satisfied as to the title offered and related matters, the buyer's solicitor will advise the buyer to sign the contract. Importantly, the buyer will be precluded from raising any further concerns or queries, except in limited circumstances.

Post-contract requisitions can only be raised on a matter of title which prior to the contract date  was not apparent from: (i) the contract or the documents and information provided to the buyer; or (ii) an inspection of the  property; or (iii) an inspection of the Planning Register or the searches (if any) furnished to the buyer; or was not otherwise known to the buyer prior to the contract date.

This places a clear duty on the buyer to inspect the Planning Register and to survey the property prior to signing the contract. Buyers must raise any additional queries within 5 working days. If the requisitions are not raised within 5 working days, they will be considered to have been waived and the seller’s replies to requisitions will be considered to have been accepted as satisfactory.

Transfer deed & closing provisions

Under the new system it is envisaged that the buyer will prepare the deed of transfer.  The 2019 General Conditions provide that if the deed of transfer has not been agreed before the contract is signed, a draft must be submitted by the buyer's solicitor to the seller’s solicitor not less than seven working days before the closing date.

However, in many cases the parties will agree the form of the deed of transfer pre-contract and incorporate the agreed draft into the contract by way of Special Condition.  As for closing, the default position in the General Conditions is that the sale will close five weeks from the contract date, but the parties may change this. 

Dispute resolution

The dispute resolution provisions have been expanded to capture disputes relating to the form of the deed of transfer as well as whether any requisitions or rejoinders have been validly raised by the buyer or satisfactorily addressed by the seller.

Standardise common practice

The 2019 General Conditions implement a system that had become commonplace in many cases. In larger transactions and in transactions such as new build residential sales, pre-contract investigation of title was routinely carried out and the practice had evolved of seller’s solicitors producing the complete title pre-contract, together with a standard set of replies to requisitions on title. 

Nevertheless, the move to standardise pre-contract title investigation gives more certainty to the conveyancing process and reduces duplication.

About the author

Imelda Reynolds

Chair

About Imelda

Imelda is a partner and Chair of Beauchamps.

Beauchamps

Related Services

Practice Areas

    Commercial Property

Sectors

    Real Estate
Beauchamps

Our Location

Riverside Two

Sir John Rogerson's Quay

Dublin 2, D02 KV60

Ireland, DX No. 63

General Enquiries

T: +353 (0) 1 418 0600

F: + 353 (0) 1 418 0699

E: info@beauchamps.ie

  • Cookie Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Accessibility
  • Sitemap
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2022 Beauchamps LLP