Legally anyone can do it for themselves, if they have the necessary time, knowledge and confidence. However, most people prefer to employ a professional.
Just looking back on this and having read a number of deeds over the years - as a sort of CPD - I cannot agree with the implication above.
Parsing the sentence carefully, one sees an unequal alignment of "what people can legally do" with "what they can or should do".
Then it brings in a word like "confidence", which sounds like "competence" but isn't and seems misleading in context.
We recently had one thread on AAM criticizing a building professional for not apparently inspecting a building properly or certifying it in accordance with the facts.
In point of fact this is a relatively straightforward act for an experienced, competent person.
Yet the above comment appears to imply that in terms of conveyancing "anyone could do it".
Not so, in my experience.
The archaic language of land law, the convoluted clauses and sub-clauses of the texts, the poor quality of the mapping and notation - sometimes isolated part plans without even a north sign - is NOT something most people without training in reading legal documents AND comparing maps could attempt with any chance of success.
Moving on to actually drawing up the Declaration of Identity, for sell-on of apartments or land or houses, and requirement of in-depth checking of overlapping and adjoining titles not just at the present time, but going back in time to the primary deed and identifying subsequent parcels of land hived off from it and you will see just what a minefield conveyancing can be.
Even trained solicitors do not carry out ALL of a conveyance - they usually require the vendor to retain the services of an architect or engineer to swear out a declaration because this involves the comparison of maps.
Where trained solicitors have drawn up the Declaration my comparison of the maps with the document usually reveals a minimum of one or two errors which cannot be signed off on.
Where I list the folios and attempt to cross reference them in a draft form, an inspection by a solicitor may reveal errors on my part.
That's with a trained solicitor and a competent building professional looking over the document.
I gave evidence in support of a colleague in court recently and one of the last utterances from the lay-defendant on oath was offered after a flick through review of the Report he hadn't paid for, saying "I could do that."
It didn't impress the judge, it clearly wasn't factually true and the sooner lay-people start realising that there is a need for the professions and their education and training is an investment that needs to be paid for by their earnings, the better.
So is it the intention behind "anyone can do it" comments that the standard of conveyancing in Ireland should fall to what a layperson might produce - or does this pave the way for undermining the professions in general?
Following this line of thought, should all unemployed architects and solicitors who have a calculator now set themselves up as financial advisors?
Farcical.