Property transactions in Ireland should continue to be made with the minimum of formality, for example, where farmers wished to sell a field to another farmer, the Law Reform Commission has commented.
In its latest report, the Commission comments on a proposal to change the law on conditions of sale. It states the working group was more sympathetic to the view that it should be possible for lay persons of reasonable skill and knowledge to enter into binding agreements for the sale of land.
The report gives the example of where one farmer wished to sell a field to an adjoining farmer, or where two adjoining farmers wished to exchange fields. It seemed to the working group that to require the parties in such situations to consult solicitors in advance with a view to having formal contracts prepared, before a binding deal could be reached, was unnecessary.
The group did consider whether it might be possible to enact legislation which could lay down a statutory structure governing informal deals entered into by parties without the aid of solicitors.
It did not see any difficulty in prescribing what an appropriate deposit should be, nor the gap between the making of the deal and the completion of the transaction.
In practice, 10 per cent deposits had become the norm in the majority of conveyancing transactions and the Law Society's Conveying Committee had recommended a minimum six-week period between contract and conveyance.
The report states that the working group started to draft a set of statutory conditions but after a number of meetings the group reluctantly came to the conclusion that the preparation of a statutory set of conditions presented insuperable difficulties and that in fact the drafting of such a statutory set of conditions was not feasible.