Ms Eleanor McKiernan:

The systems in England and Scotland have been discussed. In Ireland, the principle of caveat emptor or buyer beware applies. It is a key legal principle that has existed for generations whereby you buy the property on notice of the state, condition and repair of the property. One section in the Bill mentions a lot of documents that "may" be provided that relate to the state, condition and repair, and surveyor reports. In so doing, even if it is voluntary, the Bill could completely change the way of a contract and conveyancing, which is something that would need serious consideration. The need to go before the Law Reform Commission first to conduct a review is a basic principle. We are quite different from our English counterparts in that regard.

There have been a few conversations here about auctions. I work all the day in selling and buying properties in local residential markets. They are private treaty sales and that is what people want. There is also a lower cost base to a private treaty sale for a seller and a buyer than at auction. If we start to front-load everything and say to people that they cannot put their property on the market until they get all of these documents ready, we would put quite a substantial burden on people to upload those costs in anticipation of a sale that may or may not occur. Even for some sales, we will have people who must deal with probates and are selling the property as part of the administration of an estate. They will not have that money to upload it and will have to try and then borrow it. That is therefore an extra risk on people. My concern is that this could cause delays and almost stop people from putting up properties, and we do not want that. We do want people putting up their properties and getting their properties out there.

There is also a lot of timelines as one must have documents. I found having perused the Bill, and this is just me as a conveyancer who deals with property, that there are a lot of sections where I ask whether we are meant to do this or that. If we are in that space, there will be confusion and different opinions. One opinion could that with a reference to the document means they must all be within one year of when the property is placed on the market. Yet, the Bill states refers in section 3(1)(c) to "an Architect’s Certificate of Compliance with planning permission". That leads me to ask whether they are meant to be updated, which would be a substantial new burden on a seller that does not currently exist with the way that we run property.