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Stamp duty not paid by solicitor - advice needed please

Hello,

This is my first post so please be kind..! We bought our house 2 1/2 years ago. About 5 months ago we received a letter from our mortgage company to advise the solicitor we had used had been intervened by the Law Society and had not registered our property. We were forced to instruct a new solicitor in order to get the deeds and register us as the current owners with the land Registry. On further investigation by our new solicitor, it has transpired that the original solicitor hadn't paid the stamp duty of £1750 (though we have a worthless receipt detailing this as one of the fees we paid to the solicitor).

We have today received a bill from Revenue and Customs for the £1750 plus penalty charges and interest totaling £2200. It seems we have no choice but to pay the stamp duty AGAIN and hope we can claim the costs back by the Law Society. This just doesn't seem fair as there is no guarantee that they will reimburse this money. We are also having to foot the bill for employing the services of another solicitor to sort out this mess. Boo!

Is there anything else you can recommend me to do? Any advice would be gratefully received.

Comments

  • poppysarah
    poppysarah Posts: 11,522 Forumite
    So what did your new solicitor say about it when they did the work? Did they not check it was all done and dusted?
  • Our mortgage company insisted we instruct a solicitor. They registered us with the Land Registry and confirmed that the stamp duty hadn't been paid. The solicitor recently received the stamp duty certificate from Revenue and Customs and believed we would not have to pay again, but alas today we get an invoice from Revenue and Customs!
  • poppysarah
    poppysarah Posts: 11,522 Forumite
    Well you've got to ask them why they thought you wouldn't have to pay.
    And can they help you claim the money back off the first ones?

    Starting to sound nightmarish for you. You've got my sympathys
  • Thanks for replying. Yes, is a bit of a nightmare. They are going to hep us to claim the money back through the Law Society as the original solicitors are no longer practicing. I believe it just depends on how much money the Law Society have left 'in the pot' apparently..... Solicitors - bah humbug!
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