asked the Minister for Justice if he will introduce amending legislation to provide that building societies and other similar institutions will be responsible for their own legal costs in relation to mortgages.
Written Answers. - Mortgage Legal Costs.
215.
Some years ago, a proposal on those line was made by the Incorporated Law Society and it seemed to be generally accepted at the time that this would probably be a good idea as far as mortgages for private house purchase were concerned. However, recent investigations conducted into the subject on behalf of the National Prices Commission have raised doubts as to whether such an amendment of the law would be in the real interests of borrowers as a whole. I would refer, for instance, to the NPC Occasional Paper No. 14, of which a copy is available in the Library, and in particular to paragraph 80 of that document.
I propose to have the whole matter examined in the context of a review of the law relating to the mortgagor/ mortgagee relationship but for practical reasons this must wait until work on more pressing legislation has concluded.