Report on Multi-Unit Developments - Law Reform Commission

significantly advanced the registration of title in Ireland. 24 Among its key
objectives for the coming years is to: ―advance the completion of the Irish Land
Register by extending Compulsory First Registration (CFR) while arresting the
growth of unregistered titles.‖ 25 In 2008, compulsory registration was
significantly extended. 26
(1) Compulsory registration
4.20 The Commission has stated in Chapters 2 and 3 that it considers it
appropriate that the developer should have responsibility for the incorporation of
the owners‘ management company during the early development stage and
also transfer the legal title to the company at this early stage. The Commission
has concluded that, consistently with the PRA‘s strategy of extending
registration of title and to assist the simplification and clarification of multi-unit
development arrangements, the legal title of all new large multi-unit
developments should be compulsorily registrable. In substance, this
requirement would involve the developer registering the legal title to the
development with the Land Registry, if it is not already registered. The
Commission has concluded that the appropriate sanction would be that no
conveyance of any unit in the development could be completed until the title to
the development had been registered. 27 The Commission accordingly
recommends that the completion of a conveyance for the sale of any unit in a
multi-unit development shall be void unless the statutory requirement to register
the development has been satisfied.
4.21 The Commission also considers that the Land Registry Rules should
provide that any application to register the title of a multi-unit development
should be accompanied by a copy of the certificate of incorporation of an
24
See: J. O‘Sullivan, eRegistration and eConveyancing in Ireland: The Story so Far,
delivered at the Property Registration Authority‘s ‗Registering the World‘
Conference, October 2007.
25
Property Registration Authority of Ireland Strategic Plan 2008-2010, p.9. See
also, s.24 of the Registration of Title Act 1964, as amended by s.53 of the
Registration of Deeds and Title Act 2006.
26
The Registration of Title Act 1964 (Compulsory Registration of Ownership) (Clare,
Kilkenny, Louth, Sligo, Wexford and Wicklow) Order 2008 (S.I. No. 81 of 2008)
provides (with effect from 10 October 2008) for the compulsory registration of
ownership of land in the 6 counties referred to in the title of the Order. This had
the effect of doubling the total number of ‗compulsory registration‘ counties to 12.
27
Registration can of course take place on a block by block basis provided that the
common areas for a specific block are identified. See paragraphs 4.61-4.65
below.
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