I purchased my house (in a housing estate) from plans. The builder went bankrupt long before the house was finished. As the purchase was by stage payments, I used the money from the remaining stage payment (not paid to the builder) to finish the house. I did not profit. I broke even. Almost every evening for three months I used to go to that house after work at 5pm, and stay there working on it until midnight. I used to spend all my weekends there, and the whole of one Christmas. It was very hard going, but it wasn’t the end of the world either.
I got bad news today. The planning permission states that the builder had to pay €4,000 to the Council as a service charge levy. I learned today that the builder never paid this money to the Council for my house. It wasn’t paid for the vast majority of other houses either.
I don’t know whose responsibility it was to pay this money and when should it have been paid. As a first time buyer at the time I knew nothing about this type of matter. I presumed that the builder had paid this to the Council when he had started building the house. I presumed that the onus was on the Council to get this money from the builder.
Now the Council won’t take the estate in charge unless the service levy charge has been paid. I just can’t see all the house owners paying it. Many people might. But not everybody. Therefore our estate may never be taken in charge.
Am I now liable to pay this service levy charge for my house after already paying for the house in the first place and using the remaining money to complete it?
(I have of course made an appointment to see my solicitor about this next week. But I would like to try and understand the situation better in the meantime. That's why I am asking about it here). Thanks in advance for any advice.