Signed Contracts-can i back out?Urgent Please!

S

suzinurse

Registered User
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Hi,
My boyfriend and myself hav got our loan offer and contracts in place for a second hand house that we really wanted to purchase.We've been going through a broker who advised us on day 1 that as my boyfriend previously owned a house he could work around the stamp duty issue as this was our main concern if going ahead with purchasing a second hand house. He told us we definitely wouldn't hav to pay stamp duty as he could put my name as the lead name or something on the house.

So today we went to our solicitor to sign all the documents and they'll be sent to the vendors solicitor tomorrow and at the end of our meeting we received a quote for legal costs and were told we would hav to pay stamp duty on the house. This was a complete shock to us and we obv don't hav the funds to pay this by closing date in two weeks.

Anyone know if we can back out of this deal as we feel we went on our brokers advice from the beginning and now we think we are going to be screwed because of this... thanks in advance sorry for long mail...
 
Have you asked your solicitor if you can pull out now and if you do so what the consequences might be? I presume that you cannot or at least not without a significant risk of losing your deposit or being sued. Your broker is unlikely to be authorised/qualified to give tax advice.
 
We left the solicitor in shock and feel quite naive about the whole thing now looking back. I just let her know we weren't aware of stamp duty and that i would phone broker straight away and he kinda fobbed me off until the morning. We only gave a small deposit so we don't mind too much losing it but the fact is we went ahead with everything on our brokers advice from day 1 and if we had known from the beginning theres no way we would bid on second hand home.
Just terrified of this leaving us in debt and possibly sued...
 
I know this is slightly off topic but I have been finding that some people on here are having problems in relation to what brokers are saying. I for one would never use one (be it for mortgage, insurance or otherwise) as there is no one better than yourself in my opinion to get the correct information.

You need to speak with your solicitor urgently - did you not do this when you were with him/her. Contracts may have been send back to vendors solicitor already.

Sorry to hear about your predicament. It's never easy selling or buying. Good luck.
 
A mortgage broker is not (in most cases) qualified to give professional/authoritative tax advice. If you need tax advice go to a tax advisor.
 
You can back out by not sending the contracts back to the sellers. It is only a binding contract when it is signed by both sides.

But you would want to be waiting at the doors of your solicitor's office tomorrow morning.

Brendan
 
Sorry - I assumed that today's signing was the closing of the deal and not the initial signing of contracts or that you had otherwise exchanged signed contracts already. If this was the initial signing of contracts then you would want to be onto the solicitor ASAP as Brendan says. The contracts could already be in the DX (?) post system from your solicitor to the vendor's solicitor.
 
Thanks for all the advice. We're going to head to the solicitors first thing in the morning and hopefully get there before the post goes as it was 5pm when we left solicitor today.
We've learned a lesson,hopefully we can get out of this contract before it gets more stressful.
Thanks
 
There may be a 'cooling off' period in your contract which could apply directly to the agreement.

Indirectly, there may be a provision in the contract that it is 'subject to finance'. Likewise, there may be a valid cooling off period relating to this.

Check with your solicitor (other solicitor who may be removed from the deal) for an opinion on this for your case.

(PS - I am not a solicitor, so the above is just opinion)
 
It may just be that the OP needs to pay the stamp duty now then get a refund later ,They should clarify with solicitor
 
Sorry thought the finance act hadnt commenced yet in which case stamp would be paid and then an application for refund made after enactment.
 
"Sorry thought the finance act hadnt commenced yet in which case stamp would be paid and then an application for refund made after enactment."

This still does not make any sense. Only one of them would be a ftb. Where there are two purchasers as here and only one is a ftb, stamp duty is payable at full owner occupier rate. There would be no refund due.

If what you meant was that they could accidentally pay the duty now and then claim a refund as f.t.bs.? Still the same problem.

Mind you I am looking at the OP's post and just wondering : can you really really really honestly look at houses, work out budgets, organise a mortgage and still allow yourself to believe that there is a way around the f.t.b. /non f.t.b situation? Are people really that unaware? Do they genuinely not ask the right questions? Do they not understand stamp duty? Or do they choose to believe whatever glad hander tells them nice soothing stuff?

I have a sickening feeling that the answer is yes! And people wonder how solicitors make any money? I seem to spend large portions of my time dealing with naive f.t.b.'s who will not concern themselves with reality, who want everything done yesterday, at little or no cost to themselves, who will not listen to advice and then want out ( and someone to blame) when what you've told them turns out to be true?

I give up and I'm going home. Humbug!

mf
 

In fairness most people would believe that a mortgage broker would know his/her business well enough to give them the right information. One might also expect a Solicitor to advise a couple -before contracts are even drafted -that they would not be treated as FTB’s as this is a substantial cost to their client and will effect their decision to buy.
 
With respect MiaMia, I would imagine that all solicitors explain to their clients as they sign the contracts that this is it. Even if they don't do it, most people realise that when you sign a contract, you are committing yourself and the other party to something.

Brendan
 
I
don't think in this case it was pointed out before the contracts were signed if you are to believe the original posting. Besides it should have been brought to the client’s attention when they received the original quote - which it may wee have been.
 
MiaMia said:
In fairness most people would believe that a mortgage broker would know his/her business well enough to give them the right information.
Click to expand...

I don't think that in general a mortgage broker is necessarily qualified or authorised to give tax advice.
 
We mustn't forget the vendor in this case either...they think they've sold their house when in fact they've been dealing with, to all intents and purposes, messers. In the present climate that's going to be an unwelcome and unfair surprise.
 
KalEl said:
We mustn't forget the vendor in this case either...they think they've sold their house when in fact they've been dealing with, to all intents and purposes, messers. In the present climate that's going to be an unwelcome and unfair surprise.
Click to expand...
I agree. If I was the seller I would not have any sympathy for the OP. If the contracts were with my solicitor I would go ahead and sign them and then go to court to force the sale. The naivety (and I'm being nice here) of the OP has just cost the seller thousands, if not tens of thousands, of euro.
The fault here lies with the OP, not the broker and certainly not with the solicitor.
 
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