Help to buy ISA

jhyt89

Hi

Just looking for some advice because my convenyencers seem clueless.

Situation:

I completed on my property last year and was due £500 in the Help to Buy ISA bonus to help with completion.

I closed my bank account with the ISA and sent the closing letter to my conveyancers.

My conveyancers seem to have ignore this for some reason despite me reminding them many times before completion that I have the Help to Buy ISA. They never processed the request for the bonus before completion.

It's now been 4 months since completion and the conveyancers seem to be dragging things.

Could someone please reassure me that the bonus is still obtainable and the steps that need to be taken because I have doubts as to whether I am actually ever going to get my bonus.

Are my conveyancers liable to pay me that amount?

Thanks.

masonic

The bonus must be claimed before completion. It will not be paid if you have already completed.

If you provided them with the closing letter at least 5 working days prior to completion and your conveyancer was a member of the scheme, then you have grounds to pursue a compensation claim from your conveyancer.

jhyt89

Thanks for the reply. I reminded my solicitors at least a month in advance of completion of the need to process the isa. Ibalso provided the letter at least a week in advance of conpletion. Surely a month is enough notice for them to be registered. So i would think they should compensate me?

bowlhead99

jhyt89 wrote: »

I reminded my solicitors at least a month in advance of completion of the need to process the isa.

Practically speaking they didn't *need* to process the ISA, because if they didn't have enough money to complete the purchase, they wouldn't have completed the purchase. What I mean is, the fact it has completed implies you had presumably provided them with enough funds to complete the purchase without it, so strictly speaking the bonus wasn't needed, though of course it was wanted.

I also provided the letter at least a week in advance of conpletion.

That's pretty tight, given it can take five business days (a full working week) after they have uploaded all your supporting documentation for HMRC to process and issue a bonus, and that's assuming the solicitor is already registered with the scheme online. With a timescale of a week to get the bonus you would have expected them to have their own deadline of more than a week pre-completion to allow them to process the application and make all the relevant declarations and upload the supporting docs. Again, assuming they are already registered on the system.

Otherwise if they are not registered on the system it needs up to fifteen working days (i.e. three working weeks ; see the same link as above) after the solicitor processes the request. Which is too short if you only gave them the docs about a week before the money would have been required for the exchange.

Surely a month is enough notice for them to be registered. So i would think they should compensate me?

Whether they want to be registered at all, is up to them. Did they confirm to you at some point (preferably in writing) that they were definitely going to be able to process your application for the bonus in time, as long as you gave them your documentation by x date?

If so, and you kept your end of the bargain, then it seems they have made a mistake - either in processing it, or in promising you something which they couldn't deliver and which cost you cash. So after you follow their internal complaints process, if you don't get satisfactory resolution at the end of that process, you can go to the legal ombudsman.

You mention this was months ago and you already have your property. So, they definitely can't apply for the bonus now, because you're no longer going to be able to use it to buy a property as a FTB. As such, the bonus is no longer obtainable. Still, your property has completed. So, where did they get the money to do that, if they haven't received and used the bonus to do it?

Presumably they didn't use the money that was supposed to be going on their fees and costs, to complete the purchase from the seller, otherwise they would be chasing you for money for those fees and costs for the last four months, which normally have to be in their hands before they would complete. Maybe if they have screwed up and didn't get the bonus due to their error, their resolution is to write off some of their fees, which is why they are not chasing you for them.

Did you deliberately send them more cash than was needed for the purchase, i.e. enough money so that when combined with your mortgage it was enough to pay for the house and the deposit and the stamp duty and the solicitor fees and searches etc, there was enough money to get everything done without needing the HMRC £500 bonus? Have you seen a closing statement of your client money account with the solicitor?

masonic

jhyt89 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. I reminded my solicitors at least a month in advance of completion of the need to process the isa. Ibalso provided the letter at least a week in advance of conpletion. Surely a month is enough notice for them to be registered. So i would think they should compensate me?

From what you have written, it seems you don't know whether or not they were registered with the scheme, which doesn't bode well.

Compensation is really dependent on what they told you. As bowlhead points out, there is no requirement for them to register. A month would have been long enough, but there is a difference between "reminding" your solicitor that you wanted to use a HTB ISA and getting their agreement that you would be able to do so.