The High Court has ruled on outstanding title requirements in a €5.122 million property sale, finding that the vendor must provide original title documents or a statutory acknowledgement and undertaking for their production. It rejected the purchasers’ demand for additional family law declarations and did not decide whether an overseas bankruptcy trustee had a claim affecting the property.
The dispute arose after the purchasers agreed in July 2015 to buy the vendor’s undivided half share in unregistered freehold land. They paid a deposit of €256,100. The sale did not complete after the parties disagreed about the documents and declarations required to transfer title. The vendor later served notices requiring completion and purported to forfeit the deposit. The purchasers sued for specific performance and other relief.
The case came before Mr Justice Binchy under section 55 of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009, which directed that specified relief be determined summarily. At the hearing, two issues in the original claim were no longer pursued: the Official Assignee’s position had been clarified, and the former spouse of the vendor’s ex-husband had confirmed she was not maintaining a claim to the property. The parties also asked the judge to address a newly raised concern about a possible claim by an overseas bankruptcy trustee.
On the title documents, the judge held that the contract had not clearly excluded the vendor’s usual obligation to provide the originals or an undertaking for their production. A solicitor acting for the co-owner had said the co-owner was willing to lodge title documents with the Property Registration Authority, but the email did not identify the documents or amount to a statutory undertaking. The purchasers were therefore entitled to the declaration sought on this issue.
The court reached a different conclusion on family law declarations relating to a 2008 conveyance. It held that a contract condition barred objections and requisitions concerning the scheduled title documents. The purchasers were not entitled to require additional declarations beyond those specified in the contract and one from the vendor.
On the overseas trustee issue, the judge said the available correspondence suggested, at most, a claim against the vendor’s ex-husband’s subsequent spouse, and that any effect on the vendor’s title appeared remote. But the court could not declare the claim incapable of affecting title because the trustee was not involved in the case. The vendor was required to provide evidence, to the purchasers’ reasonable satisfaction, that any such proceedings could not affect title. A letter from the trustee would suffice. If he would not provide one, the parties could return to court on notice to him so he could explain his position; failing that, the judge said he would be willing to make a declaration addressing the issue.
The judgment does not state a final order on specific performance, the notices to complete, or the deposit. It was delivered on 14 December 2017.