Previous owner did not pay stamp duty

Alx*27

I bought a repossessed flat in October. On Friday a hand delivered letter arrived from HMRC Debt Collectors, registered in Cornwall, demanding £1700 stamp duty from the previous owner.

I bought the property from HBOS, who repossessed it from their customer, who originally bought it in June 2007.

The only address I have for the repossessed previous owner is on the lease, so it may or may not be accurate.

Do I:

• ring HMRC and tell them the debt is not mine
or
• ignore them and instruct my solicitors to deal with it

Doozergirl

Reply to HMRC informing them that you are forwarding it to your solicitor but that the property has been repossessed. And then forward it to your solicitor . It is not your problem. Your solicitor will probably just forward it to the solicitor that dealt with the sale to you, but it isn't your solicitor's problem either.

sarah_elton

If the previous owner had other debts and unpaid bills, you may well get letters from companies/debt collection agencies for a while to come. I had that at my current property. I just called whoever had sent the letter and told them I had no idea who the person was or where they were now (the name wasn't that of the person I had bought from). They were happy with that. So ringing HMRC should be fine I would have thought. All debts are linked to the person, not the address.

Alx*27

Thanks. I've had a few of the usual debt collector letters, but just thought I'd ask if this case was anything different with it being stamp duty.

Hippychick

I am confused as to how they registered the house without paying stamp duty.

In order to register the property into your name then HMRC must issue a certificate confirming that stamp duty was paid, HM Land Registry will then change the ownership of the property over. Without that certificate then the change of ownership on the deeds doesn't happen.

Is it definitely for non payment of stamp duty?????

G_M

Hippychick wrote: »

I am confused as to how they registered the house without paying stamp duty.

In order to register the property into your name then HMRC must issue a certificate confirming that stamp duty was paid, HM Land Registry will then change the ownership of the property over. Without that certificate then the change of ownership on the deeds doesn't happen.

Is it definitely for non payment of stamp duty?????

Very true hippychick.

Jowo_2

Where is this property situated? In Scotland, a notice of liability can be placed on the deeds by creditors and when the property is sold, the new owner has to pay it if the previous has not. Not sure if the HMRC do this but certainly property factors (property managers) will do this when owners do not pay their share towards repairs in the common areas.

DVardysShadow

Jowo wrote: »

Where is this property situated? In Scotland, a notice of liability can be placed on the deeds by creditors and when the property is sold, the new owner has to pay it if the previous has not. Not sure if the HMRC do this but certainly property factors (property managers) will do this when owners do not pay their share towards repairs in the common areas.

Charges can be placed on property in E&W too. What is not clear is whether the SD liability stays with the property or with the owner at the time it became chargeable. Taking note of what Hippychick says, it is difficult to see how the property could have been registered correctly for a sale to go through - although the repo may cloud matters