Ulster Bank’s requirement that borrowers sign/approve banks’ solicitors’ certificate of title

A number of practitioners have written to the Conveyancing Committee in relation to Ulster Bank’s requirement in commercial lending cases that borrowers sign/approve the bank’s solicitor’s certificate of title in cases where the bank’s solicitor has carried out a full investigation of the title. The committee is of the view that borrowers should not be asked to confirm that what the bank’s solicitor has derived from the title to the property is/is not correct.

The committee confirms that certificates of title were originally designed for the purpose of solicitors giving certificates of title to a third party. They were not designed for use by a solicitor giving a certificate of title to his/her own client. It appears to the committee that certain parts of the certificate of title in use by Ulster Bank Limited’s solicitors have been taken from a third party certificate of title.

The committee confirms that neither a borrower nor a borrower’s solicitor should confirm that the bank’s solicitor’s interpretation of title matters is correct.