Lawyers seek land law overhaul

A MAJOR overhaul of land law to make the buying and selling of property quicker and cheaper will be welcomed by the legal profession, it was claimed yesterday.

As experts gather today for a major conference on “archaic” conveyancing and land legislation, an expert said lawyers were just as fed up and frustrated with the laws as customers.

Professor John Wylie, who has written extensively on property law, said some of it dates back to the 13th century.

There is no question that the legal profession wants to see an overhaul, he said.

Lawyers are often blamed by house buyers for delays in sealing deals.

This is unfair, said Patricia Rickard-Clarke, a Law Reform Commissioner.

She added that many lawyers do not make money from their conveyancing work.

The Law Reform Commission, an independent statutory body set up to review and suggest reform of the law, has already published a consultation paper on modernising land and conveyancing law.

Today’s conference at University College Dublin is part of that consultation process. Justice Minister Michael McDowell has already signalled he is keen on reform and wants to publish a bill by August next year.

Conveyancing is simply the legal transfer of title from one person to another, but it is complicated by the paper trail that needs to be followed, as well as laws and language dating back to feudal times.

One of the more ridiculous cited by Professor Wylie at a briefing yesterday is fee tail, a law still on the statute books which dates back to late 13th century.

Under the law, land must be passed down through the one family as long as there are lineal descendants. It allowed landowners and the gentry to retain control of their leaseholds.