Stamp Duty overpayment

Morris75

Hi , We bought a farm in 2018 which consists of a main farm house. land. stables and a large barn which is converted into 4 dwellings (flats) which we rent out and are all under one deed . At the time of purchasing our conveyancer advised us  there was a few stamp duty tax relief options available to us  however we would need tax advice from our accountant  . One of the options was mixed use relief duty and the other was multiple dwellings relief however our conveyancer instructed us in an email we wouldn't qualify for the multiple dwellings as we need at least six properties or buildings on the estate. We asked our accountant he said it something he is not qualified in and to go with the cheapest relief which turned out to be the mixed use relief . We proceeded with the purchase and in early 2023 a friend of ours purchased a similar property with one extra building on the estate and qualified for Multiple Dwellings Relief . We made enquiries  and found out we were eligible for the multiple Dwellings Relief and the advice we were given by our conveyancer  was incorrect. It turns out we paid approx. £40,000 more stamp duty than we should have. We contacted HMRC via a solicitor and after nine months received a response saying we were out of time in claiming a refund .I have since gone back to my conveyancer however they said they are not liable as there not tax specialist however i have an email stating we could not claim Multiple Dwellings Relief as we don't qualify. I'm not sure on how to proceed and would be grateful for anyone with knowledge or experience in the above situation. 
many thanks 

user1977

Depends how it was worded, but it sounds like your solicitors were negligent if they did give you advice (and that was incorrect). Can't your (new) solicitors advise you?

sheramber

but they did  advise you   however we would need tax advice from our accountant  .

Did the email say definitely or was it in thier opinion?

TheJP

Have you actually had confirmation that you could have claim multiple dwellings relief, did HMRC agree you could have but too much time has elapsed? You say that your conveyancer stated that they aren't tax specialists and to seek guidance from an accountant, then you say that the conveyancer said you couldn't claim certain tax relief? 

I think you need to determine at the time if you could have qualified for the relief and then be concrete in the advice you were given, it sounds like you took guidance from the accountant however both have stated they aren't experts which i think could rule out liability. Did you ask the HMRC during the process?