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Resources

As a provider of legal and ancillary services since 1890, Ellis & Ellis occupies a unique position of both longevity and perspective in the law searching industry. In our ongoing partnership with large, small, and multi-disciplined practices, we regularly encounter certain ‘gaps in understanding’. This is particularly so when it comes to conducting ‘title investigation’ searches, but also affects other stand-alone search types.

While eminently experienced, Ellis & Ellis are not solicitors and, as such, do not and cannot provide legal opinion. However, our intention is to lend some of the 130 years of that insight to the more commonplace queries that arise from time to time. With this in mind, we trust you will find the following articles helpful.

What are Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) Searches? As part of the ‘Government’s Housing For All’ programme, a new annual tax called …

What are Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) Searches? At a time of ever-increasing rental costs, and as part of a governmental approach to …

What are Register of Shipping Searches? A division of the Department of Transport and operating under the Irish Maritime Administration (IMA), the …

Intellectual Property – a brief understanding In as much as physical objects like land, houses, vehicles, and other goods can be owned …

What is a Credit Union search in the context of a conveyance?  Credit Unions bear many similarities to Friendly Societies which are …

What are probate searches? Typically, when an individual passes away within the State, a procedure is initiated to grantsomeone the legal authority …

The National Archives – A brief synopsis Born of a merging of the State Paper Office (SPO) (Founded in 1702 and holding …

What is an Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicle (ICAV) search? In order to respond to the above premised question, we must first ask …

What are Closing Searches? Typically, when a premises goes ‘Sale Agreed’ the selling and purchasing solicitors will generate a contract which commits …

Ellis & Ellis are delighted to introduce our new online feature, enabling retrospective payment of invoices and/or statements. In continuation of our …

What is a Beneficial Ownership search? Ever since European Anti-Money Laundering legislation was transposed into Irish law from 2015onwards, it has become …

Extending from the Townland Valuation Act (1826) and the Irish Poor Law Act (1838), attempts to create valuation of land evolved over time in Ireland into the Tenement Valuation Acts of 1846 and 1852. 

Friendly Societies have been described as ‘mutual aid’ associations. At their outset, they were organised on a voluntary basis to ‘…protect members against debts incurred through illness, death, or old age’.

The Irish Land Commission (ILC) was founded in 1881 and its primary role was to oversee the dissolution of large land estates and enable tenants to purchase the subdivided holdings.

The intention of a Proceeding search is to flag whether there any High Court actions (or referred actions from lesser courts) initiated that could potentially affect the ownership of a property, or impact on the boundaries/ right/ interests of a sale property. 

To better understand what is a ‘petition search’ it is perhaps first worthwhile exploring the nature of petitions, and then specifically address petitions in context to conveyancing.

The Sheriff (Revenue) offices – Their role and record keeping in a conveyancing context. The origins of the State’s various Sheriff’s Offices …

The Role and Record Keeping of Sheriff (Civil) Offices in Conveyancing The Sheriff’s Office origins lies in Irish pre-independence and English legal …

The Functions and Documentation Practices of Sheriff (Receiver of Fines) Offices in the Context of Conveyancing. Predating Irish independence, and with a …

When the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963 came into force in October 1964 all local authorities (except town commissioners) were …

What is a Sheriff (Revenue) Search?  – An Ellis & Ellis Explainer

The Sheriff (Revenue) offices – Their role and record keeping in a conveyancing context. The origins of the State’s various Sheriff’s Offices predate Irish independence. Deriving from English legal antiquity, these sheriff’s functions include the enforcement of court judgments. Presently, trade creditors and individuals can obtain judgments and use sheriffs (Cork & Dublin) or County Registrars (All other counties) to enforce payment. Nevertheless, when it comes to debts owed to the Irish State, all taxes, interest, and duties are collected through the Office of the Revenue Commissioners. These Revenue Commissioners can, in turn, delegate their Sheriff’s authority to their own

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What is a Sheriff (Civil) Search?  – An Ellis & Ellis Explainer

The Role and Record Keeping of Sheriff (Civil) Offices in Conveyancing The Sheriff’s Office origins lies in Irish pre-independence and English legal antiquity. Originally levelled with the discharge of Crown duties, the (high) sheriff’s functions included the enforcement of court judgments.  However, in Ireland following the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, the vestigial office of (high) sheriff was abolished, with the supervision and execution of court decrees devolved to the newly established County Registrars. Due to a combination of circumstances only Dublin (City and County) and Cork (City and County) retained the title of sheriff’s office. Accordingly, every county in Ireland has

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What is a Sheriff (Receiver of Fines) Search? – An Ellis & Ellis Explainer

The Functions and Documentation Practices of Sheriff (Receiver of Fines) Offices in the Context of Conveyancing. Predating Irish independence, and with a genesis in English legal antiquity, the evolution of the various Sheriff’s Offices has developed over time to meet the demands of the Irish state.  At present, all taxes, interest, and duties owed to the government are gathered through the Office of the Revenue Commissioners. In turn, they have the authority to delegate their Sheriff’s powers to local sheriff offices, granting them the capability to execute certificates issued for enforcement. However, the power of the Sheriffs (Revenue) or Sheriff

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Photo by Scott Graham

What is a Planning Search? – An Ellis & Ellis Explainer

When the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963 came into force in October 1964 all local authorities (except town commissioners) were granted planning powers for the localities under their control. At the same time, it made generally exempt all previous developments, builds and alterations already completed. This in effect made 1964 the de facto starting date for planning regulation and compliance today. Under these new powers local authorities were obliged to prepare and adopt development plans which would enhance their decision-making policies on physical planning. It also allowed the authorities to take control (by granting or refusing permission) of

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What is a Registry of Deeds Search? – An Ellis & Ellis Explainer

In order to answer the above, we must first ask the question…what is a deed? A deed can broadly be described as any written, attributable and executable document that has been signed, attested, and delivered (sometimes sealed), which authorises the transfer or re-assignment of a property, right or interest.  In this blog, we are primarily considering deeds searching in connection with the transferring/ conveyancing of property title and/or associated rights or interests on land. As such, we need to consider how and where such deeds might be registered and how they might be searched against. To that end, we turn to the office

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What is a Business Name search? – An Ellis & Ellis Explainer

For some a business name is considered the ‘brand’ of an enterprise. A business name can help create a corporate identity, setting up as it does either perceived or real client expectations around service, production or intent. A business name can equally be used to influence company culture or merely act as a mission statement for the body corporate. However, whatever the ultimate motivation in selecting and/ or operating under a business name, from a legal perspective it means that the business name owner(s) are persons or entities carrying out their trade under a brand, i.e., a name other than

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Register of Beneficial Ownership

Ellis & Ellis have recently been in correspondence with the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial and Provident Societies. We have been informed that ‘…Following a recent judgement [sic] by the European Court of Justice the search facility on the RBO register for beneficial ownership information is now suspended…’ Moreover, we are also informed that the ‘…RBO is currently working on providing access for Designated Persons only…’. (Note: A designated person is defined on the RBO’s website (Section 15) as follows: Frequently Asked Questions About The RBO – RBO) Ellis & Ellis will continue to keep a

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Launching Our New Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) Process When Ordering Searches

Ellis & Ellis are pleased to announce the launch of our new Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) process when ordering searches. Designed to assist users in maintaining tighter controls on office expenditure, this streamlined and easy-to use PAYG option allows clients to pay for services as you use them. When ordering searches via www.ellis.ie and before the final submission of search requests, users will be given the choice to either ‘Pay later’ (default position) or ‘Pay now’ in the ‘Pay by Credit or Debit Card now?’ section of the website. If users opt to Pay As You Go, they simply click on the

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