A survey carried out by the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers (IPAV) has found that “serious” delays in the conveyancing process are leading to property sales falling through.

Four out of five of the 534 estate agents surveyed said that they had seen sales fail due to delays, with 26% saying that the issue occurred "frequently".

IPAV Chief Executive Pat Davitt told RTÉ News that delays in the conveyancing process had not eased since the last survey on the issue in 2020.

'Not blaming solicitors'

He said that it took an average of 10.4 weeks from a property sale being agreed to a contract being signed, with another five weeks until the deed was signed.

Davitt said that the target should be a period of four to six weeks.

He stressed that IPAV was not blaming solicitors for the problems, as there were many documents to be collected during the sale process.

Statutory procedure

Davitt said that the Sellers Legal Pack for Property Buyers Bill 2022 was due to reach the second stage in the Dáil on 5 October.

This would set up a statutory procedure under which a set of legal documents would be compiled and advertised with a property, and made available to potential buyers.

The bill aims to give buyers key information on the property, and ensure that the conveyancing process is more efficient.

IPAV believes that such a move could halve the conveyancing time.

Set of documents

Under the bill, when someone decides to sell a property, a set of documents – known collectively as the ‘seller’s legal pack’ – must be compiled and advertised as part of the sale.

These documents must be provided in electronic or physical form to potential buyers and/or their agents.

The documents that must be included are:

• Law Society conditions/contracts of sale,
• A certified copy of file and file plan or root of unregistered title,
• Architect’s Certificate of Compliance with planning permission,
• Architect’s Certificate of Compliance with building regulations,
• A copy of all planning permissions and building-regulations documents,
• Receipts for financial conditions,
• Letter confirming roads and services or evidence of rights of way and wayleave – including rights of access to, over or affecting the property interest, fishing rights, etc,
• Local property history details,
• BER Certificate and Advisory Report Certificate of discharge or exemption from Non-Private Residence Charge, and
• A report summary on planning search, judgement search, Compulsory Purchase Order search, bankruptcy search, Sheriff and Revenue Sheriff search, Registry of Deeds search, and company search.