How to check if stamp duty was paid

We bought a new home over a year ago and our solicitor was a nightmare, I'd to ring him consistently to get the sale through. Eventually it went through and rather than spend time calculating our bill, the solicitor asked that we lodge approx 1k for his fees and what we estimated the stamp duty bill to be (we thought it might be 18k but weren't sure, he didn't know either). We lodged this money but heard nothing since. Is there any way I can check directly with whatever gov. dept. this should've been paid to, to see what the liability was and that it was fully settled, I don't believe I'll get a reliable response from the solicitor,
Thanks

Would this not be a simple process of checking what stamp duty band you were in last year for that value house and take this percentage of the house value?

I presume you could ask your solicitor for a receipt from Revenue for the amount.

Try ringing the Stamping Office of the Revenue (contact details on www.revenue.ie). Have your ppsn handy.

"Try ringing the Stamping Office of the Revenue (contact details on www.revenue.ie). Have your ppsn handy."

Would they give that info. out over the phone?

Other methods of finding out :

1. Ask solicitor for a formal bill and confirmation that either (a) dealing is lodged and dealing number ( you can't lodge a dealing unless the Deed is stamped or (b) that Deeds have been returned to the lender. Give a set period of time, threaten Law Society ( very effective) if no answer by a certain date. Contact Law Society.

2. Ask lender if deeds have been returned

3. Ask neighbours if they know what type of title they have

4. Go to relevant Land Registry office and do a mapping search to find out if title to estate ( and therefore the house is registered). If the title is not registered in the Land Registry, the Deed should have been registered in the Registry of Deeds within a very short period of time.

It all sounds very sloppy.

mf

mf1 said:

"Try ringing the Stamping Office of the Revenue (contact details on www.revenue.ie). Have your ppsn handy."

Would they give that info. out over the phone?

Click to expand...

Maybe not, but I'd imagine they will be able to tell the OP how to find out if it was paid. It may be that they will be willing to send a receipt to their home address.

Thanks for the info. all,

I rang revenue and with my PPS number they were willing to tell me it hadn't been paid, but not the detail of what was owed etc. Apparently he did lodge a deposit immediately but never settled the full amount. So from what I can tell we're not liable for penalties but still need to get it sorted. Mf1, I take it from your post that if the stamp duty is not settled then the deeds won't have been returned to the lender. So if his office burnt down or he mislaid them, we could have a tricky situation. Its 1.5 years since we gave the money to the solicitor so I'm now off to hound him.

Savvy, to answer your question, the reason its not entirely clear how much we owe is that it was a new home without a floor area compliance cert, we were 2nd time buyers so hence the following applied:
"The stamp duty is charged on the site value or one quarter of the total value of the property (less VAT) whichever is the greater."

That really is outrageous. You need to force the issue - a strongly worded letter demanding an immediate response, updating you on where the transaction is at is needed. Set a deadline. Mention Law Society. If you hear nothing, go to the Law Society. They are very effective.

Frankly, like a lot of things, you might be better off going to someone else - someone recommended to you. They stand a better chance of sorting it than you do. You should not have to do this, it will cost you money but yes, if you want to sell and this has not been resolved, then no money will compensate you for the stress.

mf