Auctioneers and House Agents Act, 1967

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Keeping of client accounts.

5.—(1) (a) Every auctioneer and every house agent shall open and keep a client account and may, if he thinks fit, open and keep more than one client account.

(b) An auctioneer or house agent who keeps more than one client account shall keep all such accounts at the same bank unless the District Court, for special reasons, otherwise permits.

(2) When an auctioneer or house agent receives money for a client, he shall, without unnecessary delay, pay it into a client account unless the money—

(a) is received in the form of cash and is paid without unnecessary delay in cash to the client;

(b) is received in the form of a cheque or other negotiable instrument which is endorsed over and delivered without unnecessary delay to the client;

(c) is paid without unnecessary delay into a separate banking account in the name of the client or some person (not being the auctioneer or house agent or a partner, employee or agent of the auctioneer or house agent) named by the client or into a joint banking account in the names of the auctioneer or house agent and the client; or

(d) is invested by him at the written request and for the benefit of the client, in a manner in which it is for the time being lawful for a trustee (unless expressly forbidden) to invest trust funds.

(3) Where an auctioneer or house agent holds or receives a cheque or draft which includes money for a client, he shall, if practicable, apportion the cheque or draft and pay into the appropriate client account the portion representing the money for the client as if he had received a separate cheque for that amount and, if such apportionment is not practicable, he shall pay the cheque or draft in full into the client account and, where he has so paid the cheque or draft in full into the client account, he may withdraw therefrom the money that is not money for a client.

(4) No payment other than money for a client shall be made into a client account save such payment as is authorised to be made under subsection (3) or is necessary in order to open or maintain the account or to replace any sum drawn from it by mistake or accident.

(5) Money shall not be withdrawn by an auctioneer or house agent from a client account unless—

(a) it is properly required for a payment to or on behalf of a client whose money is in that account, or

(b) it is properly required for or towards payment of fees or commission due to the auctioneer or house agent by a client whose money is in that account, or for or towards reimbursement of expenses incurred by the auctioneer or house agent in connection with the client's business or of money paid to a client by the auctioneer or house agent out of his own funds (either in the circumstances specified in subsection (10) or otherwise to facilitate prompt payment of the client), or it is a withdrawal authorised by subsection (3).

(6) A withdrawal under subsection (5) (b) shall be made by either—

(i) a cheque drawn in favour of the auctioneer or house agent, or

(ii) a transfer to a bank account (not being a client account) in the name of the auctioneer or house agent.

(7) Where an auctioneer or house agent withdraws money from a client account—

(a) unless the withdrawal is being made by a cheque drawn in favour of a client, the auctioneer or house agent shall endorse on the cheque, withdrawal docket or draft requisition form the words “Fees in respect of” or the words “Outlay in respect of” or (where a payment is being made to a third party) the words “On behalf of” or (in any case) such other words as will explain the nature of the withdrawal, followed in every case by the name of the client;

(b) he shall preserve the cheque or draft when returned by the bank for as long as he is required by section 4 to preserve the corresponding account.

(8) (a) Money withdrawn from a client account for or in respect of a client shall not exceed the total of the moneys held for the time being in that account on account of that client.

(b) Money withdrawn from a client account for or towards reimbursement of money paid to a client by the auctioneer or house agent out of his own funds shall not exceed the amount paid to the auctioneer or house agent in respect of the corresponding transaction on behalf of that client and properly available in the client account for the purposes of such reimbursement.

(9) (a) If it appears to the Minister for Justice that the provisions of this section are inadequate to prevent the negligent or fraudulent handling of money for a client or are otherwise insufficient to protect the interests of clients and that other provisions (either in substitution for or in addition to the existing provisions or any of them) governing the payment of money into and the withdrawal of money from client accounts would be in the public interest, he may make regulations incorporating such other provisions.

(b) Regulations under paragraph (a) may provide that, in circumstances specified in the regulations, being circumstances in which an auctioneer or house agent is required by or under this section to pay money into a client account, the auctioneer or house agent shall either—

(i) pay the money into an interest bearing client account and pay the interest to the client or other person to whom the money belongs, or

(ii) pay to the client or other person to whom the money belongs the sum equivalent to the interest that would have been earned if the money had been paid into such an account.

(c) Regulations under this subsection shall not come into operation until a period of not less than one month has elapsed from the date on which they were made.

(d) Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which the House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to anything previously done thereunder.

(10) For the purposes of subsections (1) to (4) references to money for a client include references to money paid to an auctioneer or house agent, being all or part of the purchase-price of property sold by him for a client or of the rent or other return in respect of property let by him for a client or being a payment otherwise intended for a client, where the auctioneer or house agent, in anticipation of the receipt of such money, has out of his own funds already paid the client.