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27 2009

Land And Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009

Chapter 4

Contents of deeds

Construction of instruments.

75 .— Particular words and expressions used in any instrument relating to land executed or made after the commencement of this Chapter, unless the context otherwise requires—

(a) are subject to the same general rules of construction as are applicable to such words and expressions used in Acts of the Oireachtas under Part 4 of the Act of 2005,

(b) have the same particular meaning, construction or effect as assigned to such words and expressions used in Acts of the Oireachtas by Part 1 of the Schedule to that Act or by section 3 of this Act, whichever is more appropriate.

All estate clause.

76 .— (1) Subject to subsection (2), a conveyance of land passes all the claim, demand, estate, interest, right and title which the grantor has or has power to convey in, to or on the land conveyed or expressed or intended to be conveyed.

[CA 1881, s. 63]

(2) This section takes effect subject to the terms of the conveyance.

Receipts in deeds.

77 .— (1) A receipt for consideration in the body of a deed is sufficient discharge for the consideration to the person giving it, without any further receipt being endorsed on the deed.

[CA 1881, ss. 54 to 56]

(2) A receipt for consideration in the body of a deed is, in favour of a subsequent purchaser (not having notice that the consideration so acknowledged to be received was not, in fact, given wholly or in part), conclusive evidence of the giving of the whole consideration.

(3) Where a solicitor produces a deed which—

(a) has in its body a receipt for consideration, and

(b) has been executed by the person entitled to give a receipt for the consideration,

the deed is conclusive authority to the person liable to give the consideration for giving it to the solicitor, without the solicitor producing any separate or other authority or direction in that behalf from the person who executed or signed the deed or receipt.

(4) In subsection (3) “solicitor” includes any employee of a solicitor, and any member or employee of a firm in which the solicitor is a partner, and any such employee or member of another firm acting as agent of the solicitor or firm.

Conditions and covenants not implied.

78 .— (1) An exchange or other conveyance of land does not imply any condition in law.

[RPA 1845, s. 4]

(2) Subject to any statutory provision, use of the word “give” or “grant” in any conveyance does not imply any covenant.

Scope of sections 80 and 81.

79 .— In sections 80 and 81

(a) “conveyance”—

(i) does not include the granting of a tenancy,

(ii) means a conveyance made after the commencement of this Chapter,

(b) any reference to a person being expressed to “convey”, or to an estate or interest or land being expressed to be “conveyed” does not mean that the words “convey” or “conveyed” must be used in the conveyance for the covenant to be implied.

Covenants for title.

80 .— (1) In a conveyance of any class referred to in subsection (2) there are implied the covenants specified in relation to that class in Part 2 of Schedule 3 , and those covenants are deemed to be made—

[CA 1881, s. 7]

(a) by the person or by each person who conveys, to the extent of the estate or interest or share of the estate or interest expressed to be conveyed by such person (“the subject-matter of the conveyance”),

(b) with the person to whom the conveyance is made, or with the persons jointly and severally, if more than one, to whom the conveyance is made as joint tenants, or with each of the persons, if more than one, to whom the conveyance is made as tenants in common,

and have the effect specified in Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 3 .

(2) The classes of conveyance referred to in subsection (1) are—

Class 1:

A conveyance (other than a mortgage) for valuable consideration of an estate or interest in land (other than a tenancy) made by a person who is expressed to convey “as beneficial owner”;

Class 2:

A conveyance (other than a mortgage) for valuable consideration of land comprised in a lease made by a person who is expressed to convey “as beneficial owner”;

Class 3:

A conveyance comprising a mortgage of land (other than land comprised in a lease) made by a person who is expressed to convey “as beneficial owner”;

Class 4:

A conveyance comprising a mortgage of land comprised in a lease made by a person who is expressed to convey “as beneficial owner”;

Class 5:

A conveyance made by a person who is expressed to convey “as trustee”, “as mortgagee”, “as personal representative” or under an order of the court.

(3) Where a conveyance is made by a person who is expressed to convey by direction of another person who is expressed to direct “as beneficial owner”, then, whether or not that other person is also expressed to convey “as beneficial owner”, the conveyance is for the purposes of this section a conveyance made by that other person expressed to convey “as beneficial owner” to the extent of the subject-matter of the conveyance made by that other person’s direction.

(4) Without prejudice to section 52(6) of the Act of 1965, where in a conveyance a person conveying is not expressed to convey “as beneficial owner”, “as trustee”, “as mortgagee”, “as personal representative”, under an order of the court or by a direction of a person “as beneficial owner”, no covenant on the part of the person conveying is implied in the conveyance.

(5) The benefit of a covenant implied under this section—

(a) is annexed to and passes with the estate or interest of the implied covenantee,

(b) is enforceable by every person, including a tenant, mortgagee and any other person deriving title from or under the implied covenantee, in whom that estate or interest, or any part of it, or an estate or interest derived out of it, is vested from time to time.

(6) A covenant implied under this section may, by the terms of the conveyance, be—

(a) excluded but not so that a sole covenant or all (as distinct from some only) of the covenants implied in relation to a person expressed to convey as specified in subsection (2) are excluded,

(b) modified and, if so modified, operates as if the modification was included in this section and Schedule 3 .

(7) Any covenant implied under this section by reason of a person being expressed to convey “as beneficial owner” may, by express reference to this section, be incorporated, with or without modification, in a conveyance, whether or not for valuable consideration, by a person who is expressed to convey as specified in Class 5 of subsection (2).

Additional covenants for land comprised in a lease.

81 .— (1) In a conveyance of any class referred to in subsection (2) there are implied, in addition to the covenants referred to in section 80 (1), the covenants specified in relation to that class in Part 3 of Schedule 3 , and those covenants are deemed to be made—

(a) by the person, or by the persons jointly and severally, if more than one, so specified in relation to any class of conveyance,

(b) with the person, or with the persons jointly and severally, if more than one, who is the other party, or are the other parties, to the conveyance,

and have the effect specified in Parts 1 and 3 of Schedule 3 .

(2) The classes of conveyance referred to in subsection (1) are—

Class 6:

A conveyance (other than a mortgage) for valuable consideration of

(a) the entirety of the land comprised in a lease, or

(b) part of the land comprised in a lease, subject to a part of the rent reserved by the lease which has been, or is by the conveyance, apportioned with the consent of the lessor,

for the residue of the term or interest created by the lease;

Class 7:

A conveyance (other than a mortgage) for valuable consideration of part of the land comprised in a lease, for the residue of the term or interest created by the lease, subject to a part of the rent reserved by the lease which has been, or is by the conveyance, apportioned without the consent of the lessor.

(3) Where in a conveyance (other than a mortgage) part of land comprised in a lease is, without the consent of the lessor, expressed to be conveyed—

(a) subject to the entire rent, then covenant (1) in paragraph (2) of Part 3 of Schedule 3 has effect as if the entire rent were the apportioned rent,

(b) exonerated from the entire rent, then covenant (2) in paragraph (2) of Part 3 of Schedule 3 has effect as if the entire rent were the balance of the rent, and “(other than the covenant to pay the entire rent)” were omitted from the covenant.

(4) The benefit of a covenant implied under this section—

(a) is annexed to and passes with the estate or interest of the implied covenantee,

(b) is enforceable by every person, including a tenant, mortgagee and any other person deriving title from or under the implied covenantee, in whom that estate or interest, or any part of it, or an estate or interest derived out of it, is vested from time to time.

(5) Any covenant implied under this section may, by the terms of the conveyance, be—

(a) modified by the express provisions of the conveyance and, if so modified, operates as if the modification were included in this section and Schedule 3 ,

(b) extended by providing expressly in the conveyance that—

(i) the land conveyed, or

(ii) the part of the land which remains vested in the covenantor,

stands charged with the payment of all money which would otherwise become payable under the implied covenant.

Covenants by or with two or more persons.

82 .— (1) Where under a covenant persons are—

[CA 1881, s. 60]

(a) covenantors, the covenant binds them and any two or more of them jointly and each of them severally,

(b) covenantees, the covenant shall be construed as being also made with each of them.

(2) A covenant made with persons jointly to convey, pay money or do any other act to them or for their benefit, implies an obligation to do the act to, or for the benefit of—

(a) the survivor or survivors of them, or

(b) any other person on whom the right to sue on the covenant devolves.

(3) This section takes effect subject to the terms of the covenant or conveyance in which it is contained or implied or of any statutory provision implying the covenant.

(4) In this section “covenant” includes an express or implied covenant and a bond or obligation contained in a deed.

Covenants by person jointly with others.

83 .— A covenant, whether express or implied, entered into by a person with that person jointly with another person or other persons shall be construed and is enforceable as if it had been entered into with that other person or persons alone.

Production and safe custody of documents.

84 .— (1) Where a person retains possession of documents and gives to another person in writing—

[CA 1881, s. 9]

(a) an acknowledgment of the right of that other to production of those documents and to delivery of copies of them (“the acknowledgment”),

(b) an undertaking for the safe custody of those documents (“the undertaking”),

the acknowledgment and the undertaking have the effect specified in this section.

(2) The obligations imposed by an acknowledgment are to—

(a) produce the documents or any of them at all reasonable times for the purpose of inspection and of comparison with abstracts or copies of the documents, by the person entitled to request production or by any person authorised in writing by that person,

(b) produce the documents or any of them in court or any other place where, or on any occasion when, production may properly be required for proving or supporting the title or claim of the person entitled to request production, or for any other purpose relating to that title or claim,

(c) deliver to the person entitled to request them such copies or abstracts, attested or unattested, of or from the documents or any of them.

(3) The obligation imposed by an undertaking is to keep the documents complete, safe, uncancelled and undefaced.

(4) The obligations shall be performed from time to time—

(a) in the case of the acknowledgment, at the request in writing of,

(b) in the case of the undertaking, in favour of,

the person to whom it is given, or any person, not being a tenant, who has or who claims any estate, interest or right through or under that person or who otherwise becomes through or under that person interested in or affected by the terms of the document to which the acknowledgment or undertaking relates.

(5) The acknowledgment and undertaking bind the documents to which they relate in the possession or under the control of the person who retains them and every other person having possession or control of them from time to time but they bind each such individual possessor or person as long only as that person has possession or control.

(6) Each person having possession or control of such documents is bound specifically to perform the obligations imposed by this section, unless prevented from doing so by fire or other inevitable accident, but all costs and expenses of or incidental to specific performance of the acknowledgment shall be paid by the person requesting performance.

(7) The acknowledgment does not confer any right to damages for loss or destruction of, or injury to, the documents to which it relates, arising from whatever cause.

(8) Any person claiming to be entitled to the benefit of an undertaking may apply to the court for damages for any loss or destruction of, or injury to, the documents or any of them to which it relates.

(9) Upon such application the court may direct such inquiries and make such order as to costs or other matters as it thinks fit.

(10) An acknowledgment or undertaking under this section satisfies any liability to give a covenant for production and delivery of copies of or extracts from documents or for safe custody of documents.

(11) The rights conferred by an acknowledgment or undertaking under this section are in addition to all such other rights relating to production, inspection or obtaining copies of documents as are not satisfied by the giving of the acknowledgment or undertaking.

(12) This section—

(a) has effect where an acknowledgment or undertaking is given by a person to that same person in different capacities in the same way as where it is given by one person to another,

(b) takes effect subject to the terms of the acknowledgment or undertaking.

Notices.

85 .— (1) Subject to subsection (2), where an instrument makes provision for giving or serving a notice it may be given or served as if it were authorised or required to be given or served under this Act.

(2) Subsection (1) takes effect subject to the terms of the instrument.