LEGAL CHARGES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21924, 6 October 1934, Page 15

LEGAL CHARGES

CONVEYANCING FEES PRESSURE FOR REDUCTION STATE OFFICE POSSIBILITIES The suggestion that the Government might respond to pressure and establish a Statp conveyancing department unless the New Zealand Law Society agreed to bring about a reduction in the scale of charges for this type of work has been widely discussed in leg;al circles during the last few days. There is a feeling that such a proposal may be included among the recommendations of the Dairy Commission. The State Advances Department at present handles its own mortgages, and its charges, are only a fraction of. thoso fixed by the Law Society. The view that there is ample room for a reduction of conveyancing charges, particularly in the transfer of land, was put forward by Mr. Julius Hogben, with whom the matter was discussed yesterday. He stated, however, that ho saw innumerable difficulties in the way of the State taking over the' handling of mortgages. "It seems to me," he said, "that a State conveyancing office could quite well handle transfers of property, but it could not very well deal with mortgages, because for one thing, different institutions include different terms in their mortgages. In the transfer of land there is no such difficulty. The lawyer to-day guarantees the title to his client, and the State would have to do that." domplex Transactions Mr. Hogben stated that in large transactions a bank would take a mortgage, not only over a piece of land, but also over other securities. In would -be a most awkward thing for t. State department to prepare the mortgage over the land and for somebody else to prepare the other documents. It was quite possible that it could be done, but he did not see any justification for it at present. It would mean the training of a special staff of qualified solicitors. "I quite appreciate that we are getting more and more Government in business every day in the week, and this country, like every other country, is being run by the Civil Service," lie added. Mr. Hogben said he thought the scale for small conveyances was a quite reasonable one, but in farm transactions running into four figures the scale was, to his mind, out of proportion both to the work done and to the responsibility involved in respect to land transfer titles. There was ample room for revision there. Both in mortgages and in leases he did not see how a Government department could act satisfactorily for both parties and conserve their interests. The difficulty would be even greater with leases than with mortgages, because of the even greater variety in the terms and conditions applicable to different circumstances and the greater variance between the interests of the parties. Proportionate Fees

Reverting to the scale of charges, Mr. Hogben expressed the view that there should be a maximum fee, perhaps in the vicinity of £lO 10s, for a straightforward lajid transfer. The fees should, be proportioned to the actual work aind the responsibility involved. Some few years ago there svas a 10 per cent .reduction made in all legal charges, but - that was recently restored. .Another prominent lawyer said ifc would be almost impossible for the Government to run a conveyancing department,. although the position might depend a good dleal on the outcome of the proposal to establish a National Mortgage Corporation. He did not agree that the charges ' fixed by the LawSociety were too high. They had been _ formulated after many years of experience, and the question of the lawyer's responsibility must not be overlooked. He had to put the title right if at any stage it was found to be defective. , » IfO MINISTERIAL INTENTION INDICATION BY MR. COATES ' • [ET TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL REPORTER"! WELLINGTON, Friday A report, from Auckland that lawyers were perturbed at the threat of the establishment of a State conveyancing office unless they reduced conveyancing fees to the State Advances* level was referred to the Minister of Mr. Coates, frb-night. "I don't know whether the Dairy" Commission is considering that," he said, "but as far as I know, it is a canard."