Advice - Solicitors Error Stamp Duty

silvercar

I'm pretty sure it would have been complete as original move in date should have been tomorrow.

It is the date of completion that counts. Any reason why you would have delayed moving in until 16 days after completion?

AdrianC

mckain wrote: »

Damp issues in the new property resulted in a delay signing the contract as we wanted quotes etc on how much it would cost to resolve the damp issues.

The relevant date is not that of signature of the contract, or even of exchange of contract, but completion - the day the full sale amount, keys and legal ownership all change hands.

To be honest, while there may be a mild apology due for not making the different applicable rate clearer, I don't think it unreasonable for the solicitor to assume that an investment purchaser was aware of such widely-publicised changes in the industry they were planning on setting up business in.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34922738

It was your decision to delay the purchase, and you should have made that decision in full awareness of all surrounding issues. It is not your solicitor's job to fully inform you of wider socio-economic or political issues, just to ensure you are buying what you think you are buying.

Was your solicitor EA-"recommended" or chosen primarily due to low headline price, or were they a more traditional firm?

Kateeth

How did the op get on with this issue? My husband and I have found ourselves in a similar situation. We have a buy to let property and our current property is due to change to a buy to let the day we get our keys to the property we are purchasing. We (wrongly) thought that because the house we are purchasing is going to be our main residence we would avoid the new stamp duty fees. when we initially spoke to the solicitor he told us our charges would be 1700 for stamp duty. Then yesterday a week before we get the keys he sent us a bill for £8k. We now have to magic 8k up or will lose the house. Now the solicitor dealing with the purchase of our new property is also dealing with the buy to let property so he was fully aware that we were buying an additional property and yet the 8k tax bill was never mentioned. We feel we have been misinformed and mislead by to solicitor and wondered if there is any action we can take against him. While we realise we also played a part in not researching it fully we were paying him to sort the legal side of both houses which we feel he hasn't informed us of fully.

Kateeth

I should add that had we been informed at the beginning of the tax implications we would have sold our current property rather than converting it to a buy to let

DTDfanBoy

Kateeth wrote: »

I should add that had we been informed at the beginning of the tax implications we would have sold our current property rather than converting it to a buy to let

There's nothing to stop you selling the property now instead of keeping it as a buy to let, as it was your main residence you have 36 moths to sell it and you can reclaim the extra stamp duty paid

Kateeth

Yeah we intend to do that now but are cross that the solicitor didn't mention a damn thing about the stamp duty

BROADSWORD_2

I have a similar situation about to arise
I am selling a property that my daughter rents from me to purchase another that she will rent from me
Given that I am putting aprperty back on the market suitable for 1st time buyer to get on the property ladder as Goorge Osbourne intended do I have to pay the addition stamp duty and if so why

booksurr

BROADSWORD wrote: »

I have a similar situation about to arise
I am selling a property that my daughter rents from me to purchase another that she will rent from me
Given that I am putting aprperty back on the market suitable for 1st time buyer to get on the property ladder as Goorge Osbourne intended do I have to pay the addition stamp duty and if so why

of course you do, you are not replacing YOUR main home with another main home YOU will live in

you start with 2 properties, you end with 2 properties.

The key is there is only one of you, but you still own 2 properties. So in your terms you are in fact NOT "putting a property back into the market" as you will still have one you live in and one you let. That means you are exactly the sort of person the tax is intended to penalise. The fact you let to your daughter (or anyone else) is irrelevant, you will remain a multi property owner.

Kateeth

If you own another property (one you live in) then yes you do have to pay it. The only way you don't have to pay it is if the property you sell is your main residence and the one you buy is your main residence. Basically you pay 3% if you buy a property in addition to any other

DTDfanBoy

BROADSWORD wrote: »

Given that I am putting a property back on the market suitable for 1st time buyer to get on the property ladder as Goorge Osbourne intended do I have to pay the addition stamp duty and if so why

Are you missing the fact that whilst you are adding one property back to the market you are simultaneously removing another