The Government is to set up an implementation body charged with bringing into effect recommendations made by an expert group on conveyancing and probate.

The report, published today (16 July), calls for a target turnaround time of eight weeks for completing both processes.

Concerns have been expressed about delays in both areas, with the Law Society recently telling an Oireachtas committee that the current process was “dysfunctional and, at times, chaotic”.

The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland earlier this year noted “significant frustration” among its members with delays within the probate process.

‘Unimplemented recommendations’

The expert group’s report refers to “points of uncertainty, unpredictability, inefficiency, and ineffectiveness” in the current conveyancing system, with the process taking from 9.5 weeks to 20 weeks to complete.

“The absence of any significant deployment of IT and digitisation is a contributory factor, and there is a long history of unimplemented recommendations to introduce e-conveyancing in Ireland,” it states.

The report calls for the introduction of e-conveyancing by the end of 2027.

It calls for its proposed eight-week target to be promoted among all those involved in the process, “together with the expectation that all players will seek to ensure that they carry out their roles and co-operate with others involved to ensure that the target is met for the benefit of users”.

Electronic payments

The report calls for a public-awareness campaign to inform buyers and sellers of what to expect and how to avoid delays, and for “simple changes” in the law to get rid of outdated requirements such as ‘wet signatures’ on paper documents.

The group also recommends an assessment of the costs and benefits of a dedicated project to accelerate the registration of around 300,000 titles that remain unregistered in Ireland.

It also calls on local authorities and banks to put in place online or electronic payments for any fees and, ultimately, to set up self-service online portals for such requests.

The group says that it is not clear where the current requirement to look back 60 years for the planning history of a property comes from, but its report refers to differences of opinion on the issue, which it says needs further examination.

Courts’ probate project

On probate, the report says that some aspects of the process are “not as responsive as they need to be”. It estimates that probate in Ireland is taking about 18 weeks – “significantly higher than a number of other countries looked at”.

It sets a target of eight weeks as “a reasonable general maximum”, adding that this should be attainable within a year.

The group notes that a Courts Service project to digitise the process, expected to go live in the second half of 2025, should “significantly improve” the current process.

‘Expedite’ channel

In the meantime, however, it calls for measures such as earlier opening and checking of applications in the Probate Office, and the assignment of extra expert staff to the office.

The report also urges measures to reduce errors and omissions – including those made by solicitors.

It also recommends an ‘expedite’ channel, and/or a partial-probate mechanism, subject to genuine urgency screening, to prioritise extremely pressing cases, or to allow partial grants of probate so that conveyancing for a house in probate can be completed without an application to the High Court.