Mapping search prior to contract

Practitioners are encountering problems when an application for first registration of an unregistered title is lodged with the PRA, and it then transpires that the property is already registered or that the boundaries of adjoining property already registered encroach on the property that is the subject of the first registration application.

These difficulties can be identified in advance of contracting to purchase if the vendor (when instructing their surveyor to prepare the map for first registration) and the purchaser (when instructing their surveyor to approve the map produced by the vendor) also asks the surveyor to check:

• That the title is not already registered, and
• Whether the boundaries conflict with registered boundaries of adjoining property.

In many cases, it is anticipated that the position may be confirmed by the surveyor, by checking the Land Registry’s digital map on landdirect.ie.