The system of solicitors giving undertakings to mortgage-lenders to stamp and register the deeds of property has served the consumer very well and contributed to the growth of the Celtic Tiger, according to a leading member of the Law Society.
Patrick Dorgan, a member of the Law Society's e-conveyancing taskforce, was speaking to a continuing professional development conference on conveyancing in Dublin yesterday.
He said that the alleged abuse of the certificate of title system by two solicitors had led to calls for its review, if not its outright abandonment.
He reminded the audience of the previous "three-solicitor system", "whereby a house was purchased on bridging, and everybody waited around, while the house was effectively 'resold' to the building society or bank, who employed their own solicitor, and where, having regard largely to tight credit, buyers often had to wait for upwards of a year before completing their mortgage transaction."
He said that the initiative to change this came largely from solicitors, who thereby gave up a significant source of income. The system that then developed involves the solicitor undertaking to the lender to stamp and register the purchase deed, and put in place the lender's legal charge.
This facilitated the rapid expansion in mortgage availability, and this in turn facilitated the rapid growth in the housing market, he said.
Daniel O'Connor, chairman of the e-conveyancing taskforce, which was set up in 2005 in response to the Law Reform Commission setting up a working group on the subject, told the conference that the Law Society had now appointed a project manager to assist members move to e-conveyancing.
She is Gabriel Brennan, who will liaise with other stakeholders, and the project will allow for a whole new conveyancing system, Mr O'Connor said.
The new president of the Law Society, James McGuill, warned participants that they needed to be vigilant to ensure that criminals did not attempt to use property transactions to launder the proceeds of crime.
The Brussels directive that became the anti-money laundering legislation was never intended to apply to domestic conveyancing, but when transferred into Irish law it does, Mr McGuill said.