Solicitor witholding Stamp Duty (and not bothering to tell me)

DiscoPistol

Hi all,


Edit - It appears that I don't really have much of a question, just a vent. Still I'd be interested to see if anyone had come across anything like this before? Thanks!


I completed the sale of my house on Feb 22nd and, as is the norm, my Solicitor took all the monies owed (estate agents, stamp duty, searches etc). They also paid an extra £5k to my mortgage company that I didn't owe - I should have seen this coming really!


Anyway today I got a letter from the HMRC saying that I owed them £2000 stamp duty. I thought it was just an administrative error as the house wasn't on the Land Registry before but no, much weirder than that.


It turns out that on the completion statement my solicitor had forgotten to add some of the searches (around £300) but not bothered to tell me. They also decided not to pay the stamp duty, again, without telling me!


They are now saying they won't pay the £2000 until I pay the £300 (I'm countering with the exact opposite) but I was wondering if anyone had come across this before?

markin

Did you get the extra £5k back yet? Sound like they are holding the 2K ransom until you settle the outstanding £300 you owe them.

hazyjo

markin wrote: »

Did you get the extra £5k back yet? Sound like they are holding the 2K ransom until you settle the outstanding £300 you owe them.

Maybe now, but it sounds like they forgot/missed it and are trying to dig themselves out of a hole by now blaming the OP.


They were meant to pay that within 30 days.


I doubt HMRC would be too impressed to find out the 'reason' they've withheld it. Surely that's another matter entirely between you and the solicitor. Although I do agree you should pay that £300! I'm sure you'd be going crazy if it was the other way round and they owed it to you.

DiscoPistol

Sorry, I should have mentioned that.


The extra £5k was because of an early repayment clause in my mortgage that shouldn't have been activated as I stayed with the same provider.


Basically the solicitor denied that they have received the notice and then refused to engage with me. Thankfully my bank was on the ball and refunded me directly.


But you're right, they seem to have made an error and are now waiting for me to help them out of it!

DiscoPistol

hazyjo wrote: »

Although I do agree you should pay that £300! I'm sure you'd be going crazy if it was the other way round and they owed it to you.

You're correct of course and I'm happy to pay what I owe. I just with they'd mentioned it 6 weeks ago and I'd not got a notice for £2000 from the HMRC!

m0bov

Can you escalate your complaint with a senior partner? We are dealing with two separate issues. You could pay HMRC out of your 5k then sure the solicitors for the 2k.

davidmcn

If the delay in paying the SDLT is their error then the solicitors will be liable for all penalties/interest - and they can keep those to a minimum by paying up as quickly as possible!

DiscoPistol

I have to confess that they are starting to p me off now!


Not only are they refusing to pay the £2000 that they've had in their account since February they are insisitng I pay the £300 I owe them 'immediately'! as they don't want me to fall foul of this personal tax liability!


Cheeky Monkeys is the nicest this I could think of saying.....

G_M

Have you looked up the firm's formal complaints procedure?
Have you followed it?
Have you made clear what
a) they did wrong, and
b) you wish them to do and/or pay to put it right?


If yes to the above, without a satisfactory outcome, escalate to the legal ombudsman.

rachel230

Your solicitor has a legal duty to pass this tax on to HMRC. This money should be ring fenced for the purpose of the tax liability. Any fines are their fines as you have given them the money to pay the tax. Any other disputes about the bill is between you and them.

xylophone

https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/for-the-public/using-a-solicitor/complaints/