Two types of ownership of property in Ireland are leasehold and freehold.
Owning the leasehold interest in a property means that you own just the building and not the land it is on and that your ownership is for a fixed number of years. If you own a leasehold property, you must pay a ground rent to your landlord because he or she owns the ground it is built on. The amount of ground rent paid varies. Often this landlord will be your local authority, for instance, in Dublin, it may be Dublin City Council.
Owning the freehold interest in a property means that you own the land and buildings (if any) outright. There is no period of years attached to the ownership. Ground rent does not affect freehold property.
When you are buying or selling a property, any ground rent will be recorded on the previous deeds (if the property is registered with the Registry of Deeds) or on the folio (if the property is registered with the Land Registry). Both the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds are under the control and management of the Property Registration Authority.
The Land Registry has a scheme that allows leasehold owners to buy out their ground rent and become outright owners of their property. This scheme is known as the Ground Rents Purchase Scheme.
There are a few unusual circumstances where it is not possible to buy out ground rents, if, for instance, it is not in the public interest, or if there is a specific clause in a lease preventing it, but these instances are rare. The principal legislation governing Ground Rents in Ireland is the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act 1967, Landlord and Tenant (Grounds Rents) Act 1978 and Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rent) Act 2005.
A person buying a property will often buy out the ground rent at the same time. You can buy out ground rent both privately and through the Ground Rents Purchase Scheme.
The amount to be paid to the landlord when buying out the ground rent can be agreed by you with your landlord or can be set by an arbitrator at the Land Registry. The amount of ground rent is set by the arbitrator if you are buying out the ground rent under the Ground Rents Purchase Scheme and cannot agree the amount of ground rent to be paid with your landlord. The Land Registry will do all the legal work for a fee, depending on whether you have agreed how much to pay or whether you wish the Land Registry arbitrator to fix the price. It is more expensive if an arbitrator is involved.
If you buy your ground rent from a private landlord, a Vesting Certificate will be issued by the Land Registry. This has the same legal affect as a conveyance and "vests" the outright ownership of the property in your name. (A conveyance is a type of deed). The Vesting Certificate is a new title deed to your property. As such, it is a very important document and you are are strongly advised to have your Vesting Certificate registered.
If you buy your ground rents from a local authority, a Transfer Order will be issued by the Land Registry with the same affect. In both cases, your ownership of the property will no longer be leasehold but will instead be freehold.
Vesting Certificates and Transfer Orders are issued by the Land Registry with a recommendation that they be registered with either the Land Registry or the Registry of Deeds so that the change of type of ownership is recorded. In the Land Registry, the folio will be updated. In the Registry of Deeds, a copy of the document will be kept as if it were a memorial. A memorial is a summary of the document. The Land Registry's explanatory leaflet on the Ground Rents Purchase Scheme provides more information.
Property Registration Authority
Chancery Street
Dublin 7
Ireland
Tel:+353 (0)1 670 7500
Locall:1890 333 001
Fax:+353 (0)1 804 8037
Homepage: http://www.landregistry.ie/