THE COUNCIL of the Law Society has voted to ban solicitors from acting for both sides in a property transaction. The new regulation, which will make it a disciplinary offence to act for both sides, will come into force next January.
This follows the consideration of an extensive report on the issue by a taskforce, which was discussed by the council yesterday. Its recommendations were adopted overwhelmingly.
The taskforce was set up in light of concerns over the same solicitor acting for both purchaser and vendor in conveyancing transactions, including from members of the judiciary. The practice was also the subject of a number of complaints to the society.
The prohibition will extend to voluntary transactions between, for example, family members where a parent signs a home or land over to a child. The taskforce concluded that making these voluntary transfers an exception was unjustified.
It was heavily influenced by a survey by the Health Service Executive and UCD which found 94 per cent of financial abuse of the elderly in Ireland was perpetrated by family members.
That survey also showed a 91 per cent instance of home ownership by elderly Irish people, and among the financial abuses identified were many instances of them being forced or misled into “signing over” the family home. The taskforce did not see how one legal adviser could give independent advice to donors and recipients in such circumstances.
Asked if this would increase the costs of such transfers for families, as claimed during the week by the ICMSA, the director general of the society, Ken Murphy, said it was already recommended as best practice that where a solicitor was acting for both sides in such a transfer he or she should refer the client for independent legal advice. This recommendation was now being placed on a mandatory footing.