From Friday 31 July 2009, practitioners completing the purchases and sales of certain residential property (that is, non-principal private residences) should have regard to the above act and the regulations made thereunder. Solicitors can obtain a copy of the act from www.oireachtas.ie. The regulations (SI no 278 of 2009) provide, in summary, as follows:

• The minister commenced the act on 24 July 2009 and made procedural regulations thereunder.
• July 31 was assigned as the liability date in 2009. The liability for payment of the charge falls upon any person who is the ‘owner’ (within the meaning of the act) of a ‘dwelling’ (within the meaning of the act) on the liability date.
• A period of two months was prescribed for the purposes of section 3(4) of the act (the period within which the charge is to be paid).
  • The declaration for the purposes of section 5(1) may be made by the internet (www.nppr.ie), or in writing, to a local authority.
• Prescribes the information that the declaration shall contain, that is, the name (or in the case of co-owners, names) of the owner of the residential property in respect of which the declaration is made; the address (and if necessary a description) of the property; an address for correspondence of the owner or co-owners of the property; the personal public service (PPS) number of the owner or of each individual co-owner of the property (owner an individual) or the tax reference number (owner a company).
• Prescribes the means of payment to apply where the declaration is made in writing (cheque, postal order, bank draft and credit/debit card) or via the internet (credit/debit card).

The act and regulations were passed and made at short notice and, regrettably, the Law Society’s Conveyancing Committee did not have sufficient notice of either to make submissions or have any input into how they might impact on conveyancing practice and procedure. The committee will shortly arrange to give the matter full consideration and will issue any further guidance as is necessary in due course. Practitioners might follow the steps as recommended below as an interim measure until the committee has had an opportunity to properly consider the matter:

1. Because the act provides that the local authority charge is a charge on the property to which it relates, solicitors should, on or before closing a transaction on or after Friday 31 July 2009, seek confirmation of whether the property in sale is liable to the local authority charge, and if so, obtain a receipt for payment of the charge and/or a letter of discharge of the statutory charge on the property to place with the title deeds. If it is claimed by the vendor that the property is not liable to the local authority charge, the purchaser’s solicitor should seek confirmation of this by way of statutory declaration.
2. As there is a period of two months within which vendors may make the relevant payment, if due, it may be necessary to seek an undertaking from the vendor’s solicitor to retain sufficient monies from the sale proceeds to discharge the sum due (to include any interest payable), and pay it to the local authority, and furnish a receipt for payment and/or a letter of discharge of the statutory charge, together with an apportionment account where the parties have agreed to apportion the charge. Practitioners should note that the Department of the Environment has informed the committee that local authorities will not accept apportioned payments.