62 Certificate relating to registration of title based on possession

Summary

This section introduces the requirement of a capital acquisitions tax clearance certificate for applications for registration of title to land to the Property Registration Authority (“the Authority”) which are based on possession (commonly known as “squatters title”). Before a title to land based on possession will be registered, the applicant for registration must produce to the Authority a Revenue clearance certificate to the effect that they are satisfied that any liabilities to gift tax and inheritance tax which became charged on the land (not being liabilities which became so charged prior to the date on which ownership was last registered) have been or will be paid.

The necessity for production of a capital acquisitions tax clearance certificate before a title to land based on possession will be registered ensures that any liability relating to gifts and inheritances, which have never been disclosed to the Revenue Commissioners, must be discharged immediately or, if not immediately, at least within such additional time as the Revenue Commissioners consider to be reasonable.

A self-certification option is available for small properties which come within prescribed limits of value and size and are not part of a larger property and is designed to assist vendors and purchasers of small areas of land and to facilitate the work of legal practitioners, statutory bodies and the capital acquisitions tax clearance certificate area of the Revenue Commissioners.

Details

(1) “Act of 1964”, “the Authority” and “the Rules of 1972” are self-explanatory.

“relevant period” means the period commencing on 28 February 1974 and ending on the date when registration was made. However, where ownership of the land was last registered subsequent to 28 February 1974, liabilities prior to the date of such last registration are excluded.

The Property Registration Authority (“the Authority”) may accept a certificate for a period falling short of the period referred to above if he/she has reason to believe that there was no subsequent death relevant to the title.

(2) A person applying to the Authority to become the registered owner of property based on possession must produce a certificate issued by the Revenue Commissioners to the effect that:

• the property did not become charged with gift tax or inheritance tax during the relevant period, or
• any charge for gift tax or inheritance tax to which the property became subject during that period has been discharged or will (to the extent that it has not been discharged) be discharged within a time considered by the Revenue Commissioners to be reasonable.

(3) The Authority can accept that an application without a certificate having been issued by the Revenue Commissioners is not based on possession if the solicitor makes a declaration in writing to that effect. This covers cases where, without any title details having been furnished to the Authority, a title is registered on the basis of a solicitor’s certificate that, so far as that solicitor is concerned, it is safe to register title as absolute or good leasehold.

(4) The Revenue Commissioners are required to comply with a request for a clearance certificate, provided that the conditions for such a certificate have been fulfilled and the application and the certificate are on a form provided by them.

(5) A certificate issued by the Revenue Commissioners for the purposes of subsection (2) shall be in such terms and subject to such qualifications as they think fit. It will not, however, be a certificate for any other purpose.

(6) The reference in subsection (2) to a certificate issued by the Revenue Commissioners will be construed as including a certificate to which subsection (7) relates i.e. in cases where self-certification by solicitors apply.

(7) An option of self-certification will be available where the solicitor is satisfied that the property in respect of which the application is being made is within prescribed limits of size and market value and is not part of a larger property which is not within those limits. The prescribed limits in question are:

• €19,050, in a case where the area occupied by the property does not exceed 5 hectares, or
• €127,000, in a case where the applicant is a statutory authority.

(8) There is an exception to the rule that the small property being registered should not be part of a larger property which exceeds the limits set out in subsection (7). This arises where the sole purpose of the application for registration is the rectification of the register to take account of small mapping errors not exceeding 500 square metres in area or €2,540 in market value and where the application is not part of a series of related applications relating to a larger holding of property exceeding either of these limits.

Relevant Date: Finance Act 2015