Land Registration (Fees) Order 2012

The above fees order comes into operation on 1 December 2012. It introduces substantially increased fees for Land Registry applications. The schedule to the fees order sets out the new rates that apply and is available on the PRA website. Practitioners are urged to immediately familiarise themselves with the new rates in order to facilitate collection of the correct fees from clients, especially during the period between now and 1 December 2012.

Practitioners should note the introduction of new bands for the relevant fees for transfers on sale and, in the context of undertakings given by solicitors to lending institutions regarding stamping and registration of clients’ titles and lenders’ charges, should ensure:

• That the correct registration fees are collected from clients in respect of applications for registration to be lodged on or after 1 December 2012, and
• That applications are lodged before 1 December 2012 where fees were collected form clients at the rates set out in previous fees orders.

The PRA has confirmed that a copy folio and filed plan now comes under the fee heading at no 28 in its Summary Schedule and its new fee for this item is €40.

A number of new fee headings, for example, under various Housing Acts, affordable home purchase schemes, and so on, have arisen since the last fees order in 1999, and new fees have been introduced in respect of these applications.

A fee of €130 has been introduced for registration of easements and profits a prendre.