Documents I should receive from Solicitor after completion

JMot

I have just completed the purchase of a small apartment outside Dublin, I am expecting to receive from my solicitor the originals of the BER certificate, of the searches that were performed and of the certificates of compliance of the architects with planning regulations. However my solicitors told me very briefly that: "I do not understand irish conveyancing legal work".
What was the experience of other buyers out there?
Did you guys receive the original certificates?
Were they kept by your solicitor?
Were they stored at the land registry?
Unfortunately my solicitor is very short on words and I need to undestand where I stand before I go and talk with him. Any help is appreciated.

busylady

If you took out a mortgage to purchase, all the originals of these documents would be sent to the bank by your solicitors when registration of your title is completed in the Land Registry . You could request copies of the documents from your solicitor - they may charge a fee for copying the documents. It would not be standard procedure for a solicitor to furnish these documents to a purchaser just after completion.

JMot

busylady wrote: »

If you took out a mortgage to purchase, all the originals of these documents would be sent to the bank by your solicitors when registration of your title is completed in the Land Registry . You could request copies of the documents from your solicitor - they may charge a fee for copying the documents. It would not be standard procedure for a solicitor to furnish these documents to a purchaser just after completion.

Thank you very much. There is no mortgage since I was very lucky that my parents helped me out with a loan. So in theory my solicitor should provide me the originals at no charge once all his fees are paid. Correct?

busylady

Once the registration of your title is fully completed, yes you would be entitled to collect the original deeds. It can take a number of months for registration to be completed, sometimes longer depending on the title .

CreativeSen

busylady wrote: »

Once the registration of your title is fully completed, yes you would be entitled to collect the original deeds. It can take a number of months for registration to be completed, sometimes longer depending on the title .

My brother purchased a house in Cork, three years later his solicitor wrote a letter to them that after all the searches that were completed they found nothing...three years!

1641

busylady wrote: »

Once the registration of your title is fully completed, yes you would be entitled to collect the original deeds. .

Are you sure about this ? I thought that property Title is now more usually maintained by the Land Registry - rather than the older (but still existing) Deeds system ? See these links:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/owning_a_home/buying_a_home/property_deeds.html

http://www.prai.ie/land-registry-services/

busylady

1641 wrote: »

Are you sure about this ? I thought that property Title is now more usually maintained by the Land Registry - rather than the older (but still existing) Deeds system ? See these links:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/owning_a_home/buying_a_home/property_deeds.html

http://www.prai.ie/land-registry-services/

By original deeds, I meant the documents the op was referring to - the certificates of compliance, planning documents, searches etc. Once title is registered in the Land Registry, your evidence of title is your folio.

Marcusm

busylady wrote: »

By original deeds, I meant the documents the op was referring to - the certificates of compliance, planning documents, searches etc. Once title is registered in the Land Registry, your evidence of title is your folio.

Those documents would never be referred to as “deeds”, the originals would rarely be obtained by a solicitor, generally just copies and without doubt it would not be general conveyancing practice for a solicitor to
Prepare further copies of them for the client. The client should be able to obtain copies on request but it wouldn’t be normal practice to distribute copies.

JMot

Marcusm wrote: »

busylady wrote: »

By original deeds, I meant the documents the op was referring to  - the certificates of compliance, planning documents, searches etc. Once title is registered in the Land Registry, your evidence of title is your folio.

Those documents would never be referred to as “deeds”, the originals would rarely be obtained by a solicitor, generally just copies and without doubt it would not be general conveyancing practice for a solicitor to
Prepare further copies of them for the client.  The client should be able to obtain copies on request but it wouldn’t be normal practice to distribute copies.

So you are saying that I should present a formal request to my solicitor to provide me the certified copies he received from the vendor solicitor. I would like to receive these certified copies since when it is going to be time to sell I shall probably need to provide these same documents and I might not want to use the services of my current solicitor.
Is anything in my reasoning wrong? I do not know what is included or not included and what should be delivered to a client in conveyancing work after completion and it looks like my solicitor is not very transparent as well: that is why I am asking here.

1641

JMot wrote: »

So you are saying that I should present a formal request to my solicitor to provide me the certified copies he received from the vendor solicitor. I would like to receive these certified copies since when it is going to be time to sell I shall probably need to provide these same documents and I might not want to use the services of my current solicitor.
Is anything in my reasoning wrong? I do not know what is included or not included and what should be delivered to a client in conveyancing work after completion and it looks like my solicitor is not very transparent as well: that is why I am asking here.

Your legal Title is recorded in the property Folio, maintained by the Land Registry.You do not need to retain certified copies of this, except for your own information.(There are no deed documents to be transferred at point of sale). You can certainly ask for copies for your own information from the solicitor or apply directly to the Land Registry.

You should check with your solicitor for any applicable certificates of compliance (eg if there was any extension or significant alteration to the original house).

You can download the Ber Cert and assessment free from SEAI. You just need either your BER number (from Estate Agent Ad or Brochure) or your MPRN (from your ESB meter or electric bill). Link here:

https://ndber.seai.ie/pass/ber/search.aspx

Marcusm

JMot wrote: »

So you are saying that I should present a formal request to my solicitor to provide me the certified copies he received from the vendor solicitor. I would like to receive these certified copies since when it is going to be time to sell I shall probably need to provide these same documents and I might not want to use the services of my current solicitor.
Is anything in my reasoning wrong? I do not know what is included or not included and what should be delivered to a client in conveyancing work after completion and it looks like my solicitor is not very transparent as well: that is why I am asking here.

These documents would generally be left with the solicitor who has a general responsibility to safeguard and maintain archived files. When you come to sell, any solicitor you appoint would generally seek them for the solicitor you used to acquire the property. BER certs would most likely have exited. Documents which turned up under searches would generally be the subject of a new search in any event.