Solicitors haven't paid stamp duty

[JJPP123]

We bought a house last month, paid up the stamp duty along with conveyancing fees etc to the solicitor as requested on the completion statement.
Today we received a letter from HMRC requesting the payment plus interest as it hasn't been paid.
Will call the solicitor tomorrow but very stressed. Can we ask that they pay the interest accrued? Should we make a formal complaint and to whom?

Do you have confirmation that the solicitor received the funds from you? Sounds like a potential prof neg claim if they didn't pay the stamp duty. I would expect them to pay the duty plus any interest.

They should absolutely pay the stamp duty and any files. I suspect the money is sitting in the client account waiting.

The fee ear we will get an absolute bollocking

Yes they will pay the interest!

Look at your first letter (client care letter) and speak to the partner responsible for the file rather than the fee earner who dealt with it.

Yes they definitely received the money. They be confirmed the total received in an email and this ties into the figure on the completion statement which includes the correct stamp duty amount.
So cross!

The fee earner has probably forgotten to pay the stamp duty and the money is still in the client account. Sure they will sort it out tomorrow and pay the interest. If not you should contact the SRA, they will be able to help

And they've definitely paid all the completion monies etc apart from stamp duty?

Sounds like a simple oversight but if they don't deal with it promptly, their complaints procedure should be set out clearly in their client care letter including the right to complain to legal ombudsmen.

If you get the feeling they have appropriated the funds or are dodgy, do take independent legal advice.

Is it a large firm? They should pay immediately.

They’ve dropped a bollock here because you can’t register the property at the land registry without the receipted land transaction return. Don’t panic, the firm will sort it out. It might even be a mistake by HMRC and it has been paid after all.

They're a very large, nationwide chain. I assume all other monies were paid and we've received the title deeds which I assume is what's triggered HMRC to ask for their money.
DH is on the phone to them currently.so hopefully we will have a resolution soon.

What happened?

Did you get it sorted OP?

They had apparently forgotten to pay. The money was just sat in the account.
It has now been paid.

Now raise a formal complaint. Forgotten to do a standard part of the job? Not good enough.

That's pretty poor of them. Its a standard but important thing to do. Assume they are paying the interest/sorting with HMRC?

Yes they're dealing with the interest etc.
Would you suggest raising a formal complaint with the firm or is there an overall governing body I should go to?
Thankfully it was all sorted quite quickly this morning, didn't have a good night's sleep wondering where the rather hefty chunk of money had gone!

Start with the firm. There's a solicitors association , have a Google. Probably as little use as complaining about a surveyor (watch those ranks close!) But might get some lazy sod a kicking.

I think you have to raise it with the firm first See your initial letter for the person to contact
To be honest I am not sure what you really expect to gain
They made a mistake It is now sorted
However are you sure your title has been registered
I didn't think you could do that before the SD
was paid

I'm not really wanting to gain anything, assuming it's now all pain and the additional interest has been covered by them then I'm not out of pocket at all. If hope that by complaining they might be a little more focussed in future and avoid making the same mistake. I'd expect someone to complain about me if I forgot to file someone's accounts on time (just am example - I'm an accountant).

Fair enough
I wouldn't complain over this as to my mind it is really only an administration error,not good ,of course,but no real harm done

If it helps the solicitor is probably horrified and will never make that mistake again
But then I have been known to make the odd mistake in life

Yes, and we have to take the consequences. This is a massive cockup for alleged professionals .

I probably wouldn't put in a formal complaint. They have paid it and are paying the interest so there is no damage done really. Very unprofessional but can happen. However, I would want it in writing that they have paid and are paying the interest.

You can complain but all you will receive is a standard letter. Doubt it will give anyone a kick to do better. I used to see negligent practice most days at my old firm. Sad to say they really didn't care. And they're still in business.

I wouldn’t complain- you haven’t lost anything and it was a simple oversight that was fixed straight away. These days conveyancing fees are so low that administrative staff deal with most things. Given that the firm had to pay interest, someone has probably already been disciplined or lost their job, likely a paralegal or secretary.