This may refer to a process whereby a potential purchaser pays a fraction of the cost of the land (in this case 25%) as a deposit.
The owner grants him an exclusive legal interest which will permit him to complete the purchase at a future date.
The nature and term of this interest will be defined in the contract document.
The deposit does not usually confer full title or unfettered ownership.
It usually conveys a legal interest in the site sufficient to obtain a statutory approval (for example planning permission)
Full ownership is usually transferred following the payment of the balance owed, which itself may be contingent on something else.
This could be
- the expiry of a fixed term (say, five years from the payment of the deposit)
- the arrival of a fixed date in time (any date in the future agreed between the parties) or
- the achievement of a statutory approval (for example, achieving planning permission) or
- any combination of the above, or other terms.
The purchaser has to pay the balance of the full amount on or shortly after those dates and usually the deposit is non-refundable.
The deposit is the consideration the owner receives for granting the potential purchaser rights over the property.
These rights mean no-one else can benefit from the property during the term of the legal interest.
Usually the rights/legal interest of the potential purchaser may be assignable at least once.
This may be required to allow the completion of the purchase and the subsequent sell on to a third party.
This may need to be carried out in a particular way on a single day so as to avoid certain liabilities to the Revenue Commissioners.
The potential purchasers rights normally expire after a set time.
It would be a very unwise person who would leave an arrangement open-ended, i.e. have no time limit as well as the achievement of an approval.
In the present case, if the legal interest was time limited, it might expire after a certain date and the ownership may revert entirely to the original owner.
However, if there was no time limit beyond the achievement of a statutory approval the right could persist forever.
To answer your specific question, anyone who inherits or purchasers the right from the potential purchaser - including NAMA - could retain development rights over the land subject to paying the balance of the consideration to the original owner or his successors in title.
You need to talk to a solicitor well-versed in such dealings because, as you can see, its not a simple conveyance.
Happy to stand corrected on any of the points I have outlined above.
I've been advised about such deals colloquially - I'm not a solicitor.
ONQ
All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.
