Solicitor incorrectly paid NPPR

Donnylynch

Sold our house 3 weeks ago, ( handed keys over ) however my solicitor hasn’t paid me the proceeds as they want to be paid for the NPPR. They incorrectly paid NPPR tax for 2010,11 and 12 without consulting me. When they sent me the closing balance it had €3,300 NPPR charge plus late fees. Note I completed the solicitors paperwork when I started dealing with them, and noted the dates I lived in the principal residence. Left the country in Late 2012.

I’ve since sent them utility bills proving I lived in my house across these years and they have lodged an appeal with the NPPR. Despite repeated attempts I can’t get hold of either of the two solicitors that were dealing with my sale. Everything else has been paid, capital gains etc.

Not sure of next steps as I’d imagine the appeal lodged by the solicitors to the NPPR could take weeks. So at the moment the proceeds of the sale sits in the solicitors account.

Any suggestions on best course of action? Thanks

xyz13

Lodge a complaint with law society.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120283382#Comment_120283382

That's a good idea but even contacting the solicitor and saying you are going to might work.

antoinolachtnai

A lot depends on how big a hurry you are in, what you plan to do next (in terms of buying another house) and how aggressive you are prepared to be.

How soon do you need the money?

eusap

Can you not pay the 3k and release your house proceeds and then worry about the appeal later?

Donnylynch

We re looking to buy a house here in the next 12 weeks, so we need the money for the deposit. Thanks

Donnylynch

i was thinking of doing that, especially as the appeal could take weeks. Issue is the solicitor isn’t returning calls or emails.

L1011

Turn up in person at the office on Monday.

This is a clear error by the solicitors firm (probably a junior or an admin staff member, but they signed off on it) and they need to be the one getting the money back.

antoinolachtnai

I think you need a new solicitor and new legal advice. The relationship with your solicitor appears to have broken down and it seems to be irretrievable. This is outside of the issue of who is right and who is wrong. (We have obviously only heard one side of the story here.)

Complaints are now dealt with by the the LSRA, not the Law Society afaik. https://www.lsra.ie/make-a-complaint/

my advice is to move extremely quickly here to get new solicitors. There could even be High Court proceedings in your short term future, but hopefully not.

Claw Hammer

You should contact the Law Society and say you want to make a claim on their compensation fund. Say that it is clear that your solicitor has gone off with your money.