jaguar1619
Registered User
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- 6
My elderly parents have recently recieved a bill for nearly 20000 euro for late payment of stamp duty. They had taken out a bridging loan and were advised by their solicitor when they bought the house that they did not need to pay the stamp duty. They waited ten months and paid the solicitor who then waited a further 5 months before he paid the stamp duty.
This happened 4 years ago. Recently my mother was checking that her name was on the deeds of our house, to her shock it wasn't she rang the solicitor who then informed her of this penalty, which she had no idea of. The solicitor has offered to pay 5000 towards the penalty as he recognises he is culpable for some of the delay. My parents, as you can imagine, are very scared and do not have the money. I have been trying to sort this out for them but they do not want to sue or go to court as they are afraid they may lose. Surely if a solicitor has given bad advice and appears that he didn't know the stamp duty rules, then he is clearly negligent and a case could be made against him. I would appreciate any thoughts people have on this matter.
This happened 4 years ago. Recently my mother was checking that her name was on the deeds of our house, to her shock it wasn't she rang the solicitor who then informed her of this penalty, which she had no idea of. The solicitor has offered to pay 5000 towards the penalty as he recognises he is culpable for some of the delay. My parents, as you can imagine, are very scared and do not have the money. I have been trying to sort this out for them but they do not want to sue or go to court as they are afraid they may lose. Surely if a solicitor has given bad advice and appears that he didn't know the stamp duty rules, then he is clearly negligent and a case could be made against him. I would appreciate any thoughts people have on this matter.