First time buyer, Help to buy ISA went wrong

Baz1050

I recently purchased my first property - a two bed, 999 year leasehold apartment. The flat is a new build and I did use the Help to Buy equity loan scheme to top up my mortgage and deposit. I looked at the shared ownership scheme but wasn't 100% happy with it and buying a flat worked out much cheaper for me. I bought alone as a female in my 20's so was responsible for everything myself. 

I won't give detailed figures but roughly it worked out as:
£167k purchase
£17k Deposit
£33k Help to Buy equity loan
£117k Mortgage

As it was a new build home I used the developers recommended Mortgage Broker and Solicitor. The Broker was fantastic, I have since recommended him to several friends as I was so pleased with his work. I used the recommended solicitor too. The solicitor obviously knew I was a first time buyer and she was a trainee conveyancer which was not an issue at all - we all need to learn somewhere right. I said to her I am new to this and therefore may need reassurances that I am sending in the right information etc. She was fine with this and fully understood my needs. 

I used approx £7,000 for the second part of the deposit from my Help to Buy ISA. This gave me around £1,800 in Government Bonus which had been calculated in with the mortgage costs and also my own finances. I have never been in debt and am very careful with my money, I suffer with some mental health issues so this purchase was a massive thing to me and honestly, I was so proud to have been able to do this for myself. Being in debt genuinely scares me and I always pay what I owe on time. 

Around two weeks before the completion was due the Sol got in contact with me and said I had not sorted my help to buy ISA (Halifax one) and needed to do this. She told me to draw out the £7k then close the account. I repeated this to her and she said yes, that's what you need to do as I need to get the account closure letter to prove you have closed it and we are tight on time. I withdrew the money as told and went to close the account only to be told by Halifax that this was wrong, I should not have drawn out the money. I obviously had no idea, I had followed guidance and to be fair to Halifax they spent three days trying to help me to no avail and they actually apologised for some misinformation given to me in branch and gave me £100 to cover expenses and also as a small 'we are sorry' apology. For the first time in my life I was short of money, I had to ask to borrow £1800 from someone to cover the rest of the deposit due to this misinformation. I was obviously really upset about this and it hurt my pride as much as it upset me that this had happened. Anyway, I moved on from it, put it down to a bad experience and learnt lessons from it. I was sent my final bill from the solicitor which was around £10k including the fees and the missing £1800. I paid it in two instalments and I asked for confirmation in writing that my account was closed. I got confirmation that I was fully settled up and an invoice through showing £0. As I said, I had moved on from the error but had asked for confirmation of my account being closed as I simply did not trust there to be no more errors made. 

I have now received an email asking for an additional £70 for a 'Notice Fee' as it was missed off of the final bill that I have written confirmation was settled. I sat on the email a few days because I didn't really know what to say but have now replied (nicely but formally) and said I am surprised this fee has been asked for due to having written confirmation of the bill being paid and also that due to the error I am now destitute until I have paid back the £1800 loan anyway. I also said I am more than happy for any call logs to be looked at where this advice was confirmed to be correct at least three times. I actually work in finance myself and personally, if I had made this mistake I would have written it off and not asked for the £70. I might be being sensitive due to my mental health conditions as I know I can be but I feel really upset that this is being dug back up again and that I am being asked for this when my account was supposedly closed. What would other members do in this situation? 

pinkshoes

If the £70 notice fee was in the list of services that was being provided, then you need to pay it.

Baz1050

pinkshoes said:

If the £70 notice fee was in the list of services that was being provided, then you need to pay it.

Thanks for getting back so quick, it wasn't no. 

Tiglet2

The notice fee is a fee set by the management company that manage the block where your flat is situated.  It is not a fee set by your solicitor and it may be that the management company didn't specify the charge prior to completion.  The notice fee does need to be paid, otherwise the management company won't know that you are the new owner, or who the lender is.  Most importantly, they will not update their records so you may find that important letters will not be addressed to you.

I am afraid that you should have read the terms and conditions of your Help to Buy ISA.  It is very clear (google it) that you have to visit the bank to advise them that you are purchasing a property and wish to close the account, rather than just withdraw the money.  Once the bank closes the account, they issue the closing statement which you forward to your solicitor to claim the bonus.  While your solicitor may not have been very clear to you on this, bear in mind that it is your account for which you are responsible.  The solicitor doesn't check that you've followed the rules, only that you provide them with the closing statement.  You should have checked what you needed to do.  With all these government incentives, there are rules you have to comply with.  As a financial person yourself, you should understand that you need to read the small print.

Baz1050

Tiglet2 said:

The notice fee is a fee set by the management company that manage the block where your flat is situated.  It is not a fee set by your solicitor and it may be that the management company didn't specify the charge prior to completion.  The notice fee does need to be paid, otherwise the management company won't know that you are the new owner, or who the lender is.  Most importantly, they will not update their records so you may find that important letters will not be addressed to you.

I am afraid that you should have read the terms and conditions of your Help to Buy ISA.  It is very clear (google it) that you have to visit the bank to advise them that you are purchasing a property and wish to close the account, rather than just withdraw the money.  Once the bank closes the account, they issue the closing statement which you forward to your solicitor to claim the bonus.  While your solicitor may not have been very clear to you on this, bear in mind that it is your account for which you are responsible.  The solicitor doesn't check that you've followed the rules, only that you provide them with the closing statement.  You should have checked what you needed to do.  With all these government incentives, there are rules you have to comply with.  As a financial person yourself, you should understand that you need to read the small print.

Thanks for getting back to me, we have no management company and won't do until the estate is signed off - probably around 8 months time ish. The new build estate I was on before (same developer) had no management company still after almost three years as the estate hadn't been signed off/over. I was given a rough monthly cost of what they expect management fees to be which I am happy with and took those into account when purchasing as it still made the flat more than affordable each month. 
I have a clear breakdown of Scope of Work fees and also final bill fees. This included an estate fee (separate from Management fee) of £500 or so which I've paid. 

Trust me, after this I will personally record any legal phone call I have or only converse in writing. Should have, would have etc. I got off quite lightly, I've read about other people being down £4k+ from similar issues. Since I reserved it my property has increased in value by around £12k which is another reason I wrote the £1800 off in my mind. I do take on board that I should have checked however I have also since spoken to 8 members of staff at Halifax who also did not know the rules involved and gave incorrect advice which I did record and pass onto the complaints manager I dealt with at Halifax, he also had access from call logs and apologised for misinformation I was given and issued compensation as well as the 'lessons learnt' plan put in place. Doesn't fill me with faith when the bank itself doesn't know its own rules either but I have totally closed all my accounts and come away from them (used the advice on MSE to get a new current account sorted).