Reluctance to Witness Statutory Declaration

C

chippengael

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Hi,

I haven't spotted this issue here so I thought I'd share. I just spent the morning asking solicitors in my Dublin 15 area to witness my signature on a statutory declaration. This is a necessary step in ending a tenancy agreement in order to sell the property. According to the RTB, the declaration can be witnessed by a Comissioner for Oaths, Practising Solicitor, Notary Public or Peace Comissioner. Both solicitors, who are Comissioners for Oaths, told me they don't witness these tenancy declarations any more, offering a variety of excuses. The cost for having this done by a Comissioner for Oaths is €10, and a Noraty Public is €50-60.

Anyone have a similar experience? Any solicitors care to comment?

C.
 
No similar experience, nor am I a solicitor either. That said you may be able to contact an amenable peace commissioner in your area by asking at your local Garda station.

Peace commissioners sign statutory declarations on a regular basis for members of AGS and some, maybe many, of them will assist private citizens also.

Their position is an honorary one and as such there is no fee laid down. I couldn't speculate as to whether an offer of payment to one would be welcomed or not.
 
I got my solicitor to do exactly this a year ago. Cost I think €150 plus VAT.

He’s a one-man, wills and conveyancing type guy and this is his bread and butter. I was also a returning customer.

Zobeda said:
Peace commissioners sign statutory declarations on a regular basis for members of AGS and some, maybe many, of them will assist private citizens also.
Click to expand...
It’s common for town or county council members to be PCs and one may be willing to help.
 
There are a number of reasons why a Solicitor would be reluctant to witness a Statutory Declaration (or any document for that matter):

1. If the document being witnessed could end up in court or another contentious forum, the Solicitor could in theory be called as a witness confirming that they witnessed the document. RTB matters are generally contentious, and sometimes tend to end up in court and the Solicitors may have decided it’s not worth the tenner.

2. The Solicitor was not satisfied as to the identity of the Declarant. (Usually overcome by the provision of a valid ID eg Passport or Driving Licence).

3. These RTB forms in question contain a lot of information requiring legal advice and have significant consequences for the Landlord and Tenant. Whilst the Solicitor is merely witnessing the act of the Declarant signing the document (and there is no problem with this), there may be a nervousness (founded or unfounded - the latter in my view) on the part of the Solicitor that they may perceived as being in a position of having given legal advice to the Declarant in respect of the legal issues and therefore end up getting sued.

(I am empowered to administer Oaths and Statutory Declarations and have no problem witnessing Declarations or Oaths, but I will insist on either knowing the Deponent/Declarants personally or being absolutely satisfied as to their identity).
 
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