Advice re: solicitor not stamping purchase of property

Mmmmoooobbbb · 28-07-2013 08:32PM #1

We closed the purchase of a house in march 2013. Last Friday (26th july) the Property Tax office informed me that we had not paid stamp duty. I contacted our solicitor's office to confirm that stamp duty etc was completed. To my surprise I was informed that Stamp duty was not paid and that penalties were incurred for late payment (€310). The solicitor insists the fault and responsibility for non payment of stamp duty is ours as they had not received my PPS number. I acknowledge that he did request by email (once) the number and I did not reply with my number. We received no other correspondence telling us the stamp duty was not paid.

I am very annoyed about the situation in terms of the lack of communication regarding the stamp duty not being paid, and the tone of conversations with him over this matter on friday. I feel it is unfair that we incur this expense as
- He has €2500 of our money for 5 months.
- He did not inform us that the stamp duty was not paid.
- We only found this out by accident from another agent ( and would be liable for more penalities had we not clarified with him).

Can any one please advise :
Are we liable for the penalities in this case?
What can we do to resolve this matter?
We still have to do drawdown on the mortgage as we are renovating the house, can we change solicitors for drawdowns?

Any assistance and advice appreciated.

Thanks
Mmmmoooobbbb

Fred Swanson · 28-07-2013 08:49PM

This post has been deleted.

Pat Mustard · 28-07-2013 10:57PM

Why would the Stamp Duty office contact somebody at all?

Mmmmoooobbbb · 29-07-2013 09:30AM

The Mustard wrote: »

Why would the Stamp Duty office contact somebody at all?

I was contacting them as we did not receive details of property tax. During the conversation they said that if stamp duty was paid we would have received a letter. This started all the following clarifications.

29-07-2013 09:34AM

You were asked for your PPS Number and didn't provide it. If you had issues with providing it, you should have asked for clarification, not just ignore it. You will have to pay penalties.

seamus · 29-07-2013 09:41AM

Mmmmoooobbbb wrote: »

The solicitor insists the fault and responsibility for non payment of stamp duty is ours as they had not received my PPS number. I acknowledge that he did request by email (once) the number and I did not reply with my number. We received no other correspondence telling us the stamp duty was not paid.

Do you believe that the solicitor had some duty to chase you or remind you to supply him with this information?

Ultimately the obligation to pay stamp duty falls down to you. Whether or not you believe the solicitor should have nagged you to do it, you still have to pay it.

Pat Mustard · 29-07-2013 02:19PM

Mmmmoooobbbb wrote: »

I was contacting them as we did not receive details of property tax. During the conversation they said that if stamp duty was paid we would have received a letter. This started all the following clarifications.

So you rang the people in the Revenue Commissioners who deal with Local Property Tax and you ended up talking to the Stamp Duty Section of the Revenue Commissioners? Hard to follow.

I've never heard that the Stamp Duty section write letters to people other than the solicitors who lodge documents with them. That doesn't make sense either.

As regards the stamp duty, why do you believe that your solicitor is at fault? I don't know whether he is or not, but deeds can't be stamped without PPS numbers.

Pro Hoc Vice · 29-07-2013 03:43PM

The Mustard wrote: »

So you rang the people in the Revenue Commissioners who deal with Local Property Tax and you ended up talking to the Stamp Duty Section of the Revenue Commissioners? Hard to follow.

I've never heard that the Stamp Duty section write letters to people other than the solicitors who lodge documents with them. That doesn't make sense either.

As regards the stamp duty, why do you believe that your solicitor is at fault? I don't know whether he is or not, but deeds can't be stamped without PPS numbers.

My understanding is the OP had a chat with property tax as had not received any demand or info. I assume during that conversation OP said we bought property in March. Then property tax person prob said well you should have received something as the registration for stamp duty would have given us all the details we needed value etc. so that started a search as to why that did not happen which lead to discovery it was not paid.

OP instruct solicitor to pay stamp duty plus any late fees, but also instruct solicitor you are not happy and want a full explanation as to why it was not paid and only after that you may insist that solicitor reemburse you any extra fees.

Pro Hoc Vice · 29-07-2013 03:44PM

seamus wrote: »

Do you believe that the solicitor had some duty to chase you or remind you to supply him with this information?

Ultimately the obligation to pay stamp duty falls down to you. Whether or not you believe the solicitor should have nagged you to do it, you still have to pay it.

Depending on undertakings the final obligation may in fact rest on the solicitor.

Pat Mustard · 29-07-2013 06:45PM

infosys wrote: »

My understanding is the OP had a chat with property tax as had not received any demand or info. I assume during that conversation OP said we bought property in March. Then property tax person prob said well you should have received something as the registration for stamp duty would have given us all the details we needed value etc. so that started a search as to why that did not happen which lead to discovery it was not paid.

Ah, I get it now.

Advice re: solicitor not stamping purchase of property

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