Holding of conveyancing money, etc., by solicitor
5.—(1)  Subject to paragraphs (2) to (6), every solicitor who receives any conveyancing money shall without delay —
(a)pay the money into the escrow account for the conveyancing transaction which the money is received for or in connection with;
(b)pay the money into a conveyancing account; or
(c)deposit the money with any appointed entity (not being an appointed bank).
(2)  Subject to paragraph (5), every solicitor appointed to act for the Central Provident Fund Board in a conveyancing transaction shall, on receiving any conveyancing money withdrawn from the Central Provident Fund, without delay pay the money into a conveyancing (CPF) account.
(3)  Where a solicitor acts for any party to a conveyancing transaction other than a collective sale, and the party has, at the solicitor’s request, provided him with a sum of money not exceeding $5,000 for the payment of any amount payable for the purposes of the completion of the transaction, the solicitor may pay that sum into his client account, on condition that every amount disbursed by him from that sum is properly accounted for and supported by written documentation.
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(4)  Where a solicitor acts for the vendors in a collective sale, the solicitor may pay into and hold in his client account, from any conveyancing money received for or in connection with the collective sale, a sum of money not exceeding $2,000 for each property to be sold under the collective sale, and not exceeding a total of $200,000 for all such properties, for the payment of any amount payable for the purposes of the completion of the collective sale, on condition that every amount disbursed by him from that sum is properly accounted for and supported by written documentation.
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(5)  Subject to paragraph (6), where a solicitor acts for his client in a conveyancing transaction, he may pay into his client account any money provided by his client for the payment of either or both of the following:
(a)any professional fees for any services rendered, or to be rendered, in connection with the transaction;
(b)any disbursements incurred, or to be incurred, in connection with the transaction.
(6)  Notwithstanding paragraphs (1), (2) and (5), a solicitor shall not be required to pay into his client account, conveyancing account or conveyancing (CPF) account any money which is expressly paid to him —
(a)on account of costs incurred, in respect of which a bill of costs or other written intimation of the amount of the costs has been delivered for payment;
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(b)as an agreed fee (or on account of an agreed fee) for business undertaken or to be undertaken; or
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(c)by any person towards reimbursement of actual expenses incurred by him, in respect of which he has delivered to that person proof that he has incurred and paid for those expenses.
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(7)  Subject to paragraph (8), where a solicitor acts for any party to any conveyancing transaction, and any conveyancing money which the solicitor receives in respect of that transaction is or will be paid into a conveyancing account or conveyancing (CPF) account, no specified person shall act for any other party to that transaction.
(8)  Paragraph (7) shall not apply where —
(a)the conveyancing money consists only of any conveyancing money payable to a Category A payee; or
(b)the parties for whom the solicitor and specified person acts, or for whom the solicitor and the specified person act, consist only of 2 or more parties to —
(i)the grant of a mortgage of or a charge on land;
(ii)the redemption of a mortgage of, or the discharge of a charge on, land; or
(iii)2 or more transactions referred to in either or both of sub-paragraphs (i) and (ii), each such transaction involving the same mortgagor.
(9)  A solicitor who acts for a party to a conveyancing transaction in that transaction shall not receive or hold any conveyancing money relating to that transaction for that party after the completion of that transaction, regardless of whether the solicitor also acts for that party in any other capacity, except upon the express instructions of that party.
[S 629/2011 wef 25/11/2011]
(10)  In this rule —
“collective sale” means the sale of 5 or more lots in a strata title plan, or of 5 or more flats in a development registered under the Registration of Deeds Act (Cap. 269) or the Land Titles Act (Cap. 157), not all of which are owned by the same vendor, in a single conveyancing transaction;
“flat”, “lot” and “strata title plan” have the same meanings as in the Land Titles (Strata) Act (Cap. 158);
“specified person”, in relation to a solicitor, means —
(a)the solicitor himself;
(b)any member of the firm of solicitors of which the solicitor is a member (whether as a partner, a consultant or an employee);
(c)any director or employee of the law corporation of which the solicitor is a director or an employee; or
(d)any partner or employee of the limited liability law partnership of which the solicitor is a partner or an employee.
(11)  In the definition of “specified person” in paragraph (10) —
(a)any reference to an employee of a firm of solicitors, a law corporation or a limited liability law partnership shall be construed to include a reference to a locum solicitor engaged by the firm, law corporation or limited liability law partnership, as the case may be; and
(b)any reference to a member of a firm of solicitors shall be construed to include a reference to a locum solicitor engaged by the firm.