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The Committee continues to receive queries from practitioners regarding certain special conditions in land contracts, particularly in relation to receiver contracts notwithstanding the publication of a number of Practice Notes on the issue.

The Committee recently received a query in respect of a Special Condition in a contract which provided that:

‘A Section 72 Declaration shall not be furnished on closing or at any other time by the Vendor or Agent and General Condition 10 (d) is hereby deleted. Nothing further shall be given and the Purchaser shall raise no further enquiry, objection, rejoinder or requisition in relation thereto’.

The Committee is of the view that such a condition is not only bad practice but is almost certainly unenforceable pursuant to the provisions of Section 115 of the Registration of Title Act 1964 which provides that:

‘Every stipulation in a contract for the sale or charge of registered land or for the transfer of a registered charge whereby the purchaser or intending chargeant or the intending transferee (as the case may be) is precluded from making requisitions in relation to burdens generally or any particular burden which, by virtue of section 72, may affect the land shall be void.’

The Committee is cognisant of the fact that receivers, given the nature of their role, have limited knowledge in relation to the property in sale and wish to exclude personal liability.

The Committee has previously expressed the view that the contract for sale furnished by a receiver should be reasonably balanced between the protections provided to the receiver in the context of the sale and the rights afforded to a purchaser. Receiver should, on closing furnish statutory declarations such as Section 72 declarations and indeed other declarations such as family law declarations made on the basis of their actual knowledge information and belief having made the appropriate enquiries.