Limerick agents campaign for new law to stop lapsing of mortgages

LIMERICK was represented at meetings held in the Dail aimed at reforming property sale laws to help mortgage holders ensure approval don’t lapse.

Tom Crosse, GVM Auctioneers, Pat Carroll, Carroll’s Auctioneers of Kilmallock and Lisa Kearney of Rooney Auctioneers joined colleagues from across the country in Leinster House.

They were there to press for new legislation which will, among other things, ensure mortgage approvals do not expire after six months.

The proposed law would also take problematic, unsaleable properties off sale until such time as they have undergone a process that would render them genuinely saleable.

READ MORE: Well-known Limerick hotelier left a whopping figure of over €21m in will

The intention is to slash in half conveyancing times, which can take up to four months on average. Conveyancing is the branch of law associated with the preparation of documents for the transfer of a property from a seller to a buyer.

At the Dail, 139 submissions representing around 2,000 agents were handed in to ensure the law is passed.

As it stands, the law is at pre-legislative scrutiny stage.

This is the detailed examination of a new law which is done by a select committee before a final version is drawn up by government.

Ms Kearney, who is the national president of Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers said: “We have encountered numerous issues with sales, including deals falling through, gazumping, gazundering, and the resulting disappointment and frustration experienced by buyers, sellers, and agents. Drawing from my extensive experience in the business and first-hand encounters with these, I know the urgent need for the introduction of this law.”

An informal expression, gazumping occurs when someone makes a higher offer for a house than someone, whose offer has already been accepted by the seller, and succeeds in securing the property. Gazundering takes place when a buyer lowers the amount of an offer that one has made to a seller just before a contract swap.