(1) Any contract or agreement -

(a) for the sale of any equitable estate or interest in any property, or

(b) for the sale of any estate or interest in any property except lands, tenements, hereditaments, or heritages, or property locally situated outside the State, or goods, wares or merchandise, or stock or marketable securities, or any ship or vessel or aircraft, or part interest, share, or property of or in any ship or vessel or aircraft,

shall be charged with the same ad valorem duty, to be paid by the purchaser, as if it were an actual conveyance on sale of the estate, interest, or property contracted or agreed to be sold.

(2) Where the purchaser has paid the ad valorem duty in accordance with subsection (1) and before having obtained a conveyance or transfer of the property enters into a contract or agreement for the sale of the same, the contract or agreement shall be charged, if the consideration for that sale is in excess of the consideration for the original sale, with the ad valorem duty payable in respect of such excess consideration, but shall not otherwise be chargeable with duty.

(3) Where duty has been paid in accordance with subsections (1) and (2), the conveyance or transfer made in conformity with the contract or agreement shall not be chargeable with any duty, and the Commissioners, where an electronic return or paper return has been delivered to them, shall issue a stamp certificate to denote that the instrument is not chargeable with duty.