It is often said that Irish people have a “yearning” for land - a deep need to own a piece of land. Well now thanks to apieceofireland.com “you can own “your very own corner of the Emerald Isle”, for the resonable fee of USD 35 - the currency choice appealing to Irish-Americans, and being available from low-cost virtual terminal providers. you can own “your very own corner of the Emerald Isle”.
Being young, and living in Ireland in the so-called Celtic Tiger years, I can only rent a house, or land. So I thought the pleasure of actual ownership was a pipedream whose realisation was postponed until the next recession. Thus apieceofireland.com interested me greately. But before parting with my hard earned cash on a seemingly too good to be true adventure in trade I had to investigate.
Why is is so cheap?
It is only a square foot of land, but still it can be your square foot.
Freehold or leasehold?
If you rent land you are said in legal terms to hold land “leasehold”, etymology thus explains why a rental agreement between a landlord and tenant is called a lease.
Now if you actually own land you are said to hold it “freehold”, and of course this is the aspirational ultimate.
apieceofireland does not specify if the sale is freehold or leasehold, so while buyers receive a certificate, is it decorative or substantive?
Web search
I then searched for apieceofireland.com. This releaved they have an affiliate scheme that may not be worthwhile. It alsorevealed a comparison to moon land sales.
The purchase
I paid by PayPal knowing that it would be easier to get a refund from then over WorldPay. But the Worldpay logo was reassuring as it is harder for a merchant to get approval.
An hard backed envelope arrived 5 calendar days later by unregistered post.
Typos
On the Cert “…Macroom Land Trust Herby grants unto [my name]”. Possibly a delibrate typo for Hereby, the resultant sentence makes no sense, there is no legal entity known as Macroom Land Trust Herby, and there is no man known as Herby.
On the Cert Barony has a capital letter, but cork doesn’t, Province does, but country doesn’t, they should all have capital letters at the start.
Cosmetics
On the cert change the “seal” is a printed image. A rubber stamp or embossing would be nicer.
The sellers signature on the introduction letter does not match his signature on the Cert. A viewing of The Companies Registration Office Form RBN1 for “Macroom Land Trust” shows the signature on the Certificate is the real one.
Land Registry
I checked the Property Registration Authority online service for the coordinates of the field. Co-ordinates 1.918167, -9.077333. I wanted to see that 1) It was owned by the seller prior to my purchase 2) It was now owned by me.
But alas
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