The sales audit service is a method to get you sales ready for putting your property on the market

The sales audit service is a method to get you sales ready for putting your property on the market.   To sell your property you might think that the look and presentation of your property is key, or perhaps its location or added features, such as a mature garden. All of these are important in finding a buyer. But up to 50% of sales can be lost due to legal delays. Our service is designed to eliminate or at least reduce as much as possible this problem.

Yes, there can. To sell any property in Ireland you must demonstrate two things. You must show the buyer that you own the property and you must outline that you can legally use and enjoy the property to the full.

Generally ownership will not be a problem. Most people are the registered owners of their house or property or can some other way demonstrate that they own their property. Giving clear evidence of being able to use the property is different. To demonstrate that you can use your property you must be able to show

• Access: That is the legal arrangements for driving in and out of your property;
• Planning Permission: That the property is constructed in accordance with planning permission rules
• Boundaries: That the legal boundaries to your property match what is on the ground
• Property Taxes: That you have paid your local property tax and dealt with the non-principal private residence tax
• Septic Tank: Whether your septic tank been registered, is it compliant with planning, and can be inspected.
• Services: There can be other legal issues with your services. These relates to your legal rights to use your water, electricity or other services.
• Tax registration: That you have a tax number in Ireland.
• Capital gains tax: Do you have the information in place to pay your capital gains tax?

We have found that up to 95% of all houses that we sell, one of these items arise as a difficulty. These cause delays of up to 3 or 4 months, or even meaning that you will lose your buyer.

Yes there is. All of these issues have a solution. But the key to any sale is to identify these issues before your property goes on the market. Once you know what the issues are, then, you can manage them effectively in any sale. That is why we at Kerrypropertylaw.ie have put together an innovative package, called the Sales Audit Service

The sales audit service brings together in the county the very best legal and engineering talent, spread over the county to give you an opportunity to get sales ready.

The sales audit service comprises two key elements. Legal review and Engineering review.

The legal review will

• Examine how you own your property.   Be it in the land registry or through a series of deeds
• Examine your access (be it from the public road or through a private road)
• Look at your services and how these will impact your sale
• Check to see if your property taxes are in order
• Identify any other legal “landmines”

The engineering review

• Will examine your planning history and provide guidance on whether you are compliant with planning
• Look at your boundaries and see whether any issues arise
• Make an assessment on your services

Our mission is that you have all the information to hand so that your property is ready for the market or at least you know what has to be done to make it market ready.

The cost of the packages very much depend on the degree of work involved.

All prices are available on enquiry and are subject to individual negotiation. In any investigation we recommend that the following is obtained.

These are the bronze, silver and gold packages.

• Bronze package: This is the entry level package. This is a desktop review. Both the solicitor and the engineer would do an initial high level review. This would give you a broad overview of the issues. €499.
• Silver package: This is where the official folios are ordered. A full rights of way analysis is conducted and investigations taken place regarding property taxes. The planning file is ordered and an official roads certificate is obtained. An information pack is provided and forwarded to your engineer. Your engineer calls to the property and conducts a boundary survey and planning review. This would give you a full and comprehensive pack identifying all issues. €1,499
• Gold package: This is where you get everything in the silver package, but in addition your solicitor will prepare all legal documentation, so that it is ready for issue from day one and as much as possible, you have signed up all your papers. In addition, work is conducted on your capital gains computation and you know your final amount after all costs and expenses. Also, your engineer conducts a full survey of the property from a building control perspective. €4,499

Prices are indicative and depend on the work involved.

	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Obtaining €5 folio
Initial review of title and access
Desktop review of planning
Full Land Registry Folio
Full Planning File
Roads certificate
Detailed legal report
Call out by engineer
Boundary Report
Opinion on planning issues
Opinion on services
All legal documentation drafted
Full building control survey conducted
Capital gains tax computed
Statement of net funds received after purchase
All prices include outlay and VAT but may be subject to change depending on client requirements	€499	€1,499	€4,499

For each of the packages the time lines are normally as follows

• Bronze Package – 10 days
• Silver Package – 6 weeks
• Gold Package – 8 weeks

Timelines are due to the time it takes to receive the planning file and roads certificate, call out to the property or wait for other searches to be obtained.

If you have bought your property in the last two to three years, then much of this work has been done. However, fundamental legal changes have taken place in the market recently, particularly regarding access issues, boundary issues and planners approach to property. All of this is feeding into a radically changed legal landscape which means that most of these issues did not arise when you bought your property first.

Subject to certain terms and conditions you can of course give your report to a purchaser. This would mean that a purchaser will have the comfort of knowing that everything is in place and also all potential issues have been identified. The purchaser cannot use one of our engineers to conduct a survey of the property but the purchaser’s engineer will have the benefit of all the investigations conducted by the engineer on our panel. This will be an added sweetener to any purchaser of your property.

The Sales Audit Service has the following team behind it

Solicitor: Colm Kelly is an experienced property solicitor with 15 years consistent property law experience. He conducts hundreds of property purchases and sales each year and operates advanced systems for the buying and selling of property.   He operates the service Kerrypropertylaw.ie. Based in the heart of county Kerry he provides legal services all over the county.

Tralee, Dingle and North Kerry Engineers

James Sugrue: Operating since 1992, Sugrue Design are registered Chartered Architectural Technologist and Chartered Building Engineers with full indemnity insurance. They are registered with the Society of Chartered Surveyors of Ireland SCSI as an Assigned Certifier under the new building regulations BC(A)R 2014 requirements. Based in Tralee Co. Kerry they regularly undertake residential and commercial projects locally, nationally and in the UK. www.sugruedesign.com

Adrian Sheehan:   Part of Reeks Consulting Engineers. Reeks Consulting was founded in 2013 by Adrian Sheehan and Donagh O’Regan with the specific aim of providing clients with professional and competitively priced engineering services and advice. Their consulting engineers have in excess of twenty years experience and are fully insured by professional indemnity insurance. A friendly and straight talking approach has helped to achieve a high level of repeat business and referrals for the company. www.reeksce.ie

Killarney Engineer

Colm Longeran: Lonergan Consultancy was founded in late 2012 by Colm Lonergan; a graduate of Bolton Institute of Higher Education, Bolton, England, a Chartered Engineer member with Engineers Ireland. Colm has over 25 years experience in various engineering fields and related construction activities. www.lonerganconsultancy.com

Engineer for Mid and South Kerry (Inch, Castlemaine, Killorglin, Caherciveen, Glenbeigh, Milltown)

John Noonan: John Noonan is a native of Cork and a qualified Civil Engineer. With over 25 years experience his work deals principally with house surveys, property designs, planning applications, septic tank advice and project management.

Engineers for South Kerry (Kenmare, Sneem, Caherdaniel, South Kerry)

Vincent O’Leary and Thomas O’Sullivan of B&J Rochford

Vincent O’Leary: A native of Sneem, Kerry, where he resides with his wife Fiona and their young family, qualified in Architectural Technology from DIT Bolton Street. Vincent worked previously for Neil Bennett Architects Limerick, Paul O’Loughlin Architects Dublin and Wilson Architecture Cork before joining B & J Rochford in 2004 and now has almost 25 years’ experience in the architecture / construction industry.

Thomas O’Sullivan: Thomas O’Sullivan a native of Tuosist, Kerry, where he resides with his wife Audrey, qualified with a Bachelors in Engineering (Civil) and joined B & J Rochford in 2004 and has over 15 years relevant experience in the engineering / construction sector. Thomas completed the FAS / FETAC ‘Site Suitability On-site Wastewater Treatment’ Certificate and registered on the Kerry and Cork County Councils list of Site Assessors. www.bandjrochford.com