Problem with solicitor

Pepe-le-pew · 21 June 2016 at 9:43AM

My daughter and her boyfriend are in the process of buying their first home together. They both took out help to buy isas as they thought the government bonus would come in handy. They've just been given a completion date so closed the isas and gave the closing statement to their solicitor so he could claim the bonus owed from HMRC. However, he has just announced, two weeks before completion, that he is not registered on the scheme and so cannot claim this money, so my daughter will have to find almost £1000 from money saved for furniture etc to cover the rest of the deposit.

Her boyfriend has emailed HMRC for advice,but has had no response so far.

Has anyone here had experience of anything like this? Can anyone offer any advice on where they go from here?

Any advice will be gratefully received, house buying is stressful enough without extra problems being thrown in your way!

scottishblondie · 21 June 2016 at 10:13AM

I would ask he solicitor to register with the scheme immediately so that they can claim the bonus! As long as the solicitor is eligible to register it doesn't seem to be a terribly onerous task based on the info on the website.

Pepe-le-pew · 21 June 2016 at 10:28AM

Thanks, they did ask him to do that but he's gone on holiday for a fortnight, so we've no idea if he did! I'm hoping the person who's covering for him will be more helpful!

knightstyle · 21 June 2016 at 12:34PM

Perhaps he is not a solicitor????

Pepe-le-pew · 21 June 2016 at 3:20PM

That thought did cross my mind at one point! They've since heard back from the person covering him while he's on holiday, and have been assured that he has registered and it's all in hand. They're holding off from ordering any furniture yet, just in case!