THE FINAL FINAL STEP

Once upon a time, a property sale was finally nearing completion.

The sale was financed by a bank. Although the Deed of Absolute Sale had already been signed, the seller would receive the balance only after the title and tax declaration had been transferred to the buyer’s name and submitted to the bank.

After several weeks, everything was finally done.

The title and tax dec had been transferred and the docs had been submitted to the bank.

Only one task remained: collect the seller’s check.

Then came the final obstacle.

The bank refused to release the check because it required another original copy of the seller’s Special Power of Attorney which authorized the Attorney-in-Fact to receive the check issued in the seller’s name.

The Attorney-in-Fact explained that the loan's department already had an original SPA. It had been submitted together with the title and the other documents.

Unfortunately, that original was with another department.

Could that department simply retrieve it?

Apparently not.

Could the bank accept a photocopy?

Also no.

And so, after the sale had been completed, the title transferred, and the bank’s own requirements substantially satisfied, the seller’s money remained unreleased because one department would not recognize a document already held by another department of the same bank.

The timing makes the story even more amusing.

Photocopies were recently discussed during a public hearing, following a Supreme Court ruling that a photocopy may be admitted in evidence to the same extent as the original when its authenticity is not genuinely disputed.

Of course, court rules on evidence do not require banks to abandon their own internal controls.

Still, when the bank already possesses the original document, requiring another original feels less like due diligence and more like bureaucracy for bureaucracy’s sake.

Lesson: Always keep an extra copy of the SPA.