LAND AGENTS WARNED

Horowhenua Chronicle, 25 May 1916, Page 3

LAND AGENTS WARNED

"Land agents andi others who delibi erately disregard the provisions of the | Finance Act, 1915, will find themselves |in serious trouble," said Mr Justice Cooper at the Auckland Supremo Court (reports the Auckland Heraldi). His Honour's remarks were made -n the course of the hearing of a case oi alleged trespass and wrongful seizure of furniture, in connection with which it was stated that the stamp duty on certain agreements to transfer ft property did not appear to have 'been paid so far, as required by tho Aot. His Honour said every agreement in writing for the salo of any iand should be charged with the same ad val»rom s du —which should foe paid by the purchaser—as if it were an actual convjyance on the salo oi the land agreed to be sold. This meant that if A owned the land and he sold it to B, who in turn sold it to C, who completed' a fourth transaction by selling th<3" property to D, each of the agreement* or transactions should bear stamp diuity to the extent of 20s per £100. Lnu.M the okl system, _ all that was necessary was to affix a is stamp to eacli agreement and stamp duty on the conveyance only. The new act brought into operation in 1915 laid down that every agreement for the sale, sub-sale, or transfer of land, was liable to stamp duty, just the same as the conveyance. His Honour added that recently a good many attempts to evade stamp duty hadi come under his notice, and it was the duty of the Court to endeavour 'o prevent such evasion. He pointed out that a severe penalty was provided in the Aot in the event of breaches.