Could you explain the situation regarding the publication of actual sale prices for houses and apartments? Is there legislation governing this and what are the prevailing circumstances in other European countries?

There is no national register of house price sales. As collectors of Stamp Duty, this information is with the Revenue Commissioners, but has never been published.

John Craddock of Craddock Auctioneers says that, traditionally, auctioneers used to provide sale price information to under- bidders on a property. They also used to give the information to other estate agents to help them value similar property accurately. If the buyer or seller insisted on confidentiality then the price would be withheld.

But, he adds: “Since the inception of the NPSRA (National Property Services Regulatory Authority) their code of conduct expressly forbids us from releasing sale prices without the consent of the vendor. Most vendors do not want to reveal sale prices.

“From a data protection viewpoint, and in the interest of fairness, there is also a suggestion that the buyer is entitled to the same consideration as the seller, so their permission should also be sought.

“In other countries sale prices are openly published with the encouragement of governments. Published prices would make it far easier for buyers and sellers to make informed decisions.”

We’ve recently paid off our mortgage five years early. We have a life assurance policy on it which the bank currently has. Can we reclaim it or should we just stop paying?

There are two main types of policy used for life assurance in conjunction with mortgages: a mortgage protection or level term policy. Life assurance is a valuable asset which costs much more the older you are, so keeping it even though your mortgage is over might be a good idea, depending on the type.

Ciaran Phelan of the Irish Brokers’ Association says: “If you had a mortgage protection decreasing term plan the remaining cover would be quite small and not offer value for money relative to the premium you are paying. It must be remembered that the cover will continue to decrease over the remaining five years although the premium will not.

“If on the other hand the policy was a level term plan it may well be worth continuing given the fact that the cover would be more expensive as you are 15 years older and there could also be health factors to take into consideration”.

The first step then is to find out what type of policy you have. A broker will give you professional and independent advice (check out www.iba.ie for a list in your area).

Either way, as the policy will be currently assigned to your lender and given that the mortgage is now paid off you should look to have the policy reassigned to you.

From Irish Independent 19/6/09