PCIT Prima Facie Review

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is a PCIT Prima Facie Review?

  PCIT Prima Facie Review is provided to review documentation and answer your solicitors’ queries during the conveyancing process. A prima facie review is an assessment of the documentation submitted, based on the first impression of the engineer.

• What does PCIT mean?

  Every property sale involves a process called ‘investigation of title’, which requires the buyer’s solicitor to carry out certain checks on the property’s title. From 1 January 2019 a more efficient and cost-effective system for buying and selling property in Ireland was introduced. The ‘pre-contract investigation of title’ (PCIT) system ensures any questions relating to the property’s title are raised and resolved before the contracts are signed.

• What is conveyancing?

  Conveyancing is the “legal” transfer of a property from one owner to another. Any admin work needed to make sure a house purchase is legally valid falls under this term. The conveyancing process is considered completed once signed contracts are exchanged between the buyer and seller. The process starts when an offer is accepted on a house and ends when the buyer has the keys.

• What questions will the PCIT Prima Facie Review respond to?

  Solicitors have many different queries during conveyancing, and an engineer can assist with some of those questions. The PCIT Prima Facie Review service will provide responses to questions about property documentation, e.g., planning documents, 3^rd party certificates, etc.

• Who provides the PCIT Prima Facie Review?

  The document review and written response is undertaken and provided by one of our qualified engineers.

• When would I need a PCIT Prima Facie Review?

  When your solicitor requires an overview / opinion on the accuracy of documents submitted.

   

• My solicitor has requested me to confirm that all property documentation is accurate and in order. Will a prima facie review of documents be sufficient for this purpose?

  No. If your solicitor requires us to use the word ‘accurate’, ‘correct’, ‘guarantee’ or other such words, it will require the engineer to carry out a detailed investigation of the property, including planning research at the local authority planning office, followed by a visit to the property in question. Only when the due diligence has been undertaken can the engineer respond fully to the queries/documents submitted.

• Can a prima facie review of documents confirm that all documents relating to the property are accurate and can be relied on for conveyancing purposes?

  No. A prima facie review is a desktop review of submitted documents only. While we cannot say the documents are ‘accurate’ with this level of research, we can provide comments on the documents based on our experience. You should note that there may be issues that would become apparent if a detailed review and investigation of all documents was carried out.

• My solicitor has carried out a ‘planning search’ on the property. Can you confirm that all is in order with the property based on the planning search?

  No. A planning search normally details planning reference numbers (if any) only, for the property in question. To ‘confirm’ that all is in order with the property further research would be required.

• My solicitor has provided me with certificates / opinions provided by other engineers and wants to know if they are correct or can be relied on?

  To confirm that certificates / opinions submitted by third party engineers are correct and can be relied on for conveyancing purposes, full planning research and a site comparison should be carried out. Only then will we be able to confirm that the existing documents are ‘accurate’/ ‘correct’ or not. With a prima-facie review we can provide comments on the documents based on our experience, to give an indication of how reliable the information is.

• Can my solicitor communicate directly with the engineer?

  Yes, we prefer to communicate directly with your solicitor as this helps avoid any confusion or misinterpretation of a solicitor’s queries or requirements about planning. The benefits of this to you and your solicitor are:

  • Professional responses that can be relied on and are backed up by relevant third-party liability insurance.
  • Communication between two professionals who properly understand what is required to avoid any ambiguities and miscommunications
  • Time efficient to support a well organised conveyancing process

• If my solicitor has subsequent planning questions will I have to book another service?

  Should full planning research be required, or certification of a property be required following the PCIT Prima Facie review, this would require additional service(s), e.g., Opinion on Compliance for Exempt Development, Opinion on Compliance with Planning Permission.

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