I have wondered why lawyers/conveyancers feel that they should be saddled the burden of preparing, executing and submitting State Revenue Office (SRO) forms as though they are an essential part of the conveyancing transaction. Well, I have just discovered that they are not part of the conveyancing transaction at all. This means that we do not have to act on bank "requirements" to produce, these documents or to assume responsibility for them if they are incorrect in paper transactions. Nor do we have to deal with them and simply absorb the time/cost of doing so.
I have just had a member of the State Revenue Office confirm to me that the preparation and submission of State Revenue Office (SRO) forms is not the responsibility of the conveyancer or the legal practitioner. (It is only when settlement is being completed through PEXA that the conveyancer/legal practitioner is obliged to assume responsibility for dealing with stamp duty matters, and this is done through Duties Online.)
In other words, the handling of SRO documents is not part of the conveyancing transaction. This is because these documents cannot be signed under a Client Authorisation, which document authorises the subscriber to perform tasks (a) to (d) as set out in the Client Authorisation form. The client gives the following authority to a subscriber in by way of the Client Authorisation form:
(a) sign Documents on my behalf as required for the Conveyancing Transaction(s); and
(b) submit or authorise submission of Documents for lodgment with the relevant Land Registry; and
(c) authorise any financial settlement involved in the Conveyancing Transaction(s); and
(d) do anything elese necessary to complete the Conveyancing Transaction(s).
I sought advice on signing SRO documents on behalf of my clients pursuant to the Client Authorisation form, just as I do through the PEXA procedure, including (as of next year) paper Transfer of Land forms (which are stamped by the SRO). According to the SRO, the term "Documents on my behalf as required for the Conveyancing Transaction(s)" does NOT include SRO documents, so it follows, that SRO documents are NOT documents "required for the conveyancing transaction".
As SRO documents are not documents required for the conveyancing transaction, I need not include the handling of them as part of my fixed fee conveyancing service. In other words, I am entitled to insist that a client should download the appropriate SRO forms from the SRO website, complete them and and personally submit them to their bank. It is then the responsibility of the bank to deal with the forms as per the bank customer's instructions.
Alternatively, if the client does not have a lender that they can instruct in relation to the SRO forms, the client may instruct me to deal with the forms for them, but for a fee that does not form part of my fixed conveyancing fee.
Interestingly, the SRO confirmed that they will accept documents signed by a lawyer/conveyancer on behalf of a client pursuant to a Power of Attorney, but definitely NOT a Client Authorisation. My understanding is that the purpose of the Client Authorisation is to replace the Power of Attorney because of jurisdictional problems. Rather strange.
Perhaps one day the SRO will seek to have their forms included in the definition of "Documents required for the Conveyancing Transaction" so that practitioners can sign them for paper transactions, but until then the SRO's documents remain outside of the conveyancing transaction.
Peter Mericka B.A., LL.B - Property Lawyer - Lawyers Conveyancing
