Madam, - Carol Coulter's article in your Property supplement of September 16th was a clear description of the complexity of property conveyancing in this State and the importance of solicitors in this process. It dealt in detail with what a solicitor does during negotiation, auction, contract, etc., and the many pitfalls which await purchasers.
One thing was omitted however; the simple question, "Why?". Why do we have such a complex system for the simple transfer of property ownership? Why do we have two separate agencies for proof of title? Why do deeds and contracts read like extracts from the Merchant of Venice?
Why do we need specialist law searchers when anyone with common sense should be able to do it? Why does conveyancing take so long and cost so much?
Above all, when the property is resold years later, why does the entire rigmarole have to be gone through again?
Property conveyancing entails the continual reprocessing, over and over again, of the same piece of property, redoing the same work over and over, to absolutely no purpose - except the maintenance of an excellent standard of living for those providing this pointless service.
This crazy system is at its most absurd in conveyancing new housing, where each purchaser must pay his or her own solicitor to research the same title, the same planning permission, the same liens and mortgages on formerly agricultural land.
The Government could, of course, simplify conveyancing through the Land Registry, centralising all relevant information on each piece of property in the State - maps, ownership, planning permission, mortgages, etc. - and letting the public have free access to this information, in person and over the internet.
There are certainly enough civil servants tied up in the existing dysfunctional system to support such a service. But the number of lawyers and former lawyers in the Dáil means there is no prospect of such a progressive move. - Yours, etc.,
GARY O'CALLAGHAN, Avondale Crescent, Killiney, Co Dublin.
A chara, - The article by Carol Coulter on conveyancing gave the impression that when a property is sold at auction, it is still "subject to contract".
This is not the case. The buyer who signs a contract at an auction is bound to the purchase from the moment that the contract is signed, even though the day of the closing of the sale may be a month later.
Further, I charge only 0.5 per cent on most purchases and sales, and the majority of Dublin solicitors would charge less than the one per cent mentioned in the article. - Yours, etc.,
MUREDACH DOHERTY, (Solicitor), South Richmond Street, Dublin 2.