With apologies for any formatting issues, I have pasted below an extract from my standard first advice letter for files involving site transfer and stage payment\self build mortgages. I have not updated this template for a number of years ( so fees and outlays may not be bang up to date) and can't give it the time right now, but for what it's worth:
1. Building Agreement. If you are building your house by direct labour, this does not arise. However, if you are retaining a single contractor to build the house it is best to have a written contract with him. If you want provide us with plans and specifications, we can draw up a suitable contract and our fee for dealing with this will be in the region of €500.00 plus V.A.T. If your contractor is Homebond registered, you will benefit from a 10 year guarantee against major structural defects. Alternatively, your contractor may have insurance which achieves much the same result (there is a particular insurance product available called the “Premier Guarantee”, which some builders use instead of Homebond).
2. Direct Labour Construction. If you are building your house by direct labour, the open foundations (i.e. before concrete is poured) must be inspected and passed by a practicing architect or engineer. You should make sure that the architect/engineer carries professional indemnity insurance. Further periodic inspections will also be needed, but I make particular mention of the foundation because I have come across situations where people had the foundations poured and blockwork started before getting any inspection done, and this makes for a lot of hassle.
3. Planning Search. It is a good idea to carry out certain investigations at the offices of the Local Authority before going ahead with any building project. These investigations are commonly referred to as a “Planning Search”, though they cover more than just planning permissions. It is common practice in many counties to get a Planning Search done by professional Law searchers, who will issue a short report for a fee of between €60.00 and €100.00 (approx.). If you wish, we can arrange for a Firm of Law Searchers to carry out a Planning Search. However, it is my opinion that this is something on which you can do a better job yourself. Therefore, unless you specifically instruct us otherwise in writing, we proceed on the assumption that you will handle this yourself. I have set out a brief explanation of what is involved:
(a) The first item to check for on a Planning Search is the Zoning Of The Area. If someone is building a house in the middle of a housing estate with houses running in every direction as far as the eye can see (or in a remote rural area) this is not so important. However, if there is undeveloped building land anywhere near you, it would be of obvious interest to you to know whether the land is zoned residential, industrial, retail etc. The example I always give people is that if years ago you built a house near the Naas Road in Dublin, you would now find yourself living in the middle of an Industrial Estate – a development which could probably have been predicted by checking with the Planning Office. If we get our Law Searchers to do a Planning Search they will usually only give you the zoning of the immediate area in which the house stands. You might prefer to have a look at the overall picture of the area in which you are buying – another reason why I recommend that you carry out these enquiries in person.
(b) Other Applications In The Area. By looking at the Planning Map in the office you can see what has been given Planning Permission in your area. A Planning Permission only has a life of 5 years so you are safe enough to confine yourself to Planning Permissions granted in that period. Bear in mind that a Planning permission granted in 1999 could have a “98” or earlier planning reference, if it took a long time to go through the planning process. If a Planning Permission is older than Five years, it means either that the building is already there or else the Permission has lapsed and is no longer relevant. The example I often give people is that if you planned to build a house in a country area and someone already had Planning Permission to put up a pig rearing unit across the road, you would want to know about it. Apart from projects which have been given planning Permission, you should also look at what (if any) plans have been published by the Council (or other state bodies) for work which they intend to carry out in the area. The Council, and certain state bodies, do not have to apply for Planning permission, but they do have to make their plans available for the public to see.
(c) Compulsory Purchase and Road Widening. The standard example I give people is that - usually in rural areas - this can affect people who live on a bend in the road where there is a road-straightening project planned. However, Compulsory Purchase can also affect people in urban areas. Projects such as the Dart, the Luas, the laying of electric cables, gas pipelines etc. can all have implications for a property. Even if your own property is not directly affected, you can have situations where – for example – there is a nice quiet road beside the property which is due to be upgraded to a dual carriage way. This is something which you would want to know about before going ahead. Not all proposed Compulsory Purchases can be examined in the local planning office; for example, Bord Gais has its own procedures which operate without relevant information being published in the offices of the Local Authority. Therefore, without doing a huge amount of legwork, it is difficult to be 100% sure that you have covered every possibility in terms of possible CPO proposals. This is not quite as bad as it sounds, because all CPO transactions involve payment of compensation to property owners directly affected (i.e. losing part of their property).
As already mentioned we can arrange for a firm of Law Searchers to carry out a Planning Search and to issue a short report for you. However, the staff in the planning office are always very helpful in dealing with enquiries such as I have outlined above and I honestly think you are better off attending to this yourself.
4. Estimated Costs of Transaction. In order to help you budget for this transaction, (and also, of course, because I have an obligation to let you know where you stand in relation to costs as soon as practicable) I have set out below an estimate of the professional fees and outlays involved. Our final bill will reflect the exact outlays actually incurred, and the outlays set out below are only an estimate. The estimated fee is on the basis that the transaction turns out to be straightforward. If matters arise which could not reasonably have been expected, the professional fee may be subject to upward revision – and we would of course advise you of this as soon as this as soon as practicable. As against that, if the transaction is exceptionally smooth, we would usually knock a few pounds off our fee to reflect this.
ESTIMATED OUTLAYS
Stamp Duty on Transfer Deed
Land Registry Fee on Transfer 85.00
Land Registry Fee on Mortgage 125.00
Land Registry fee to open new Folio 60.00
Other Land Registry Fees (approx.)
Law Searchers Fees (excluding Planning Search) – approx. 70.00
Various Petty Outlays approx. 50.00
Total
ESTIMATED SOLICITORS FEE
Our fee is €635.00 (plus V.A.T. @ 21%) to cover drawing up the site transfer, getting it stamped and registering it in the land registry. As stated above, if you need a building agreement, the cost is approx. €500.00 plus V.A.T.
For the mortgage, the fee can vary, for the reason that it is difficult for us to know at the outset how much work will be involved. By way of a rough guide, the fee is unlikely to be less than €750.00 and it would be unusual for it to be more than €1,500.00. As a rough overall indication, I expect the mortgage fees to be around €1,000.00 plus V.A.T. There are some things which you can do to ensure that legal fees do not get too high. For example, you can deal directly with your architect about getting the stage payment certificates to the bank, and let us know when they have gone in, rather than have us chasing them up ourselves.
5. Finance. There are some aspects of your mortgage which are not handled by us, but are dealt with between you and your lender (or via a broker). The main ones are Property Insurance, Life Insurance, Valuers report, and Direct Debit Mandate for your loan repayments. These must all be in place before we can get a loan cheque or stage payment released to us. I would ask you to make sure that they are all in order in good time for the first stage payment.
It very frequently happens that somebody building a house ends up looking for a top-up mortgage – i.e. borrowing more than they originally budgeted. This involves further legal fees and other costs. You can end up in a situation where borrowing another €10,000 is costing maybe €700 extra in transaction costs. To avoid this, you should if possible look for a bigger mortgage than you think you need. As long as it is on a variable rate, you can always just hand back whatever you don’t need (or simply don’t draw down your last stage payment at all).
6. Planning Compliance. When it comes to getting your final stage payment, I need to get a certificate from your Architect or Engineer to say that:
• the house has been built in compliance with Planning Permission and Building Regulations; (the Certificate of Compliance);
• The development (including septic tank and well where applicable) is wholly within the site, AND the site boundaries as built correspond with those on the transfer map. (the Certificate of Site Identity);
• Where applicable, that development is exempted development (for example, a garage conversion or an extension).
This is separate to the certificates that are sent in for the stage payments. Sometimes a planning permission can have conditions about planting trees, constructing drains at the entrance, widening the entrance, getting tests done and submitting commission reports on effluent treatment plants etc. If all of these are not fully complied with, the Architect may not be able to issue a full certificate of compliance. If I don’t have documented evidence that all of the conditions of planning are fully complied with, this can delay getting the final stage payment and involve extra work.
7. Safety File. By law, every construction project is supposed to have a “Safety File”. This is supposed to be a sort of users manual for a building, and it applies just as much to a house as it does to a commercial building. A well put together safety file would have:
• Manuals and guarantee documents for equipment such as boilers;
• A set of plans marked to show the building as built – including location of wiring and plumbing;
• Various Certificates (electricians cert for wiring, commissioning cert for effluent treatment plant, test results for well water and so on).
I don’t need to see this file, but it is no harm for you to be aware of the law on this matter. It is already a legal requirement to hand over a safety file to a buyer, and in future years, I have no doubt that house buyers (or their solicitors) will start to insist on production of the safety file.