HMRC charging order it won't acknowledge

[adjsavedmylife]

Hello. Bit of a niche one, if anyone has any advice I would be eternally grateful. We are meant to be buying a property but it has come to light that there is a charging order over the property, money is owed to HMRC from a long time ago.
Despite months of calls and chasing from the vendor and vendor's solicitors, HMRC has yet to acknowledge the charge, what it relates to or how much is owed.

Vendor's solicitors are contacting the Land Registry directly about removing it, but I'm not sure they will be able to help since the debt is not settled. I imagine the threshold for doing this is quite high.

HMRC is effectively blocking the sale of the property. The solicitors will obviously keep trying to get someone there to take ownership, but surely there has to be some other recourse - where do we go? Who can help? You would think they would be keen for the debt to be repaid, but apparently not.

I know walking away is an option, but we're not ready yet. Thanks in advance.

Any idea how much the charge is for? How much are you buying for, and how much is the remaining mortgage? I appreciate you might well not know any of this

Put in a complaint to HMRC. You can do so online. If you get no joy you can complain to the Adjudicator. They are normally fairly quick at dealing with complaints.

Just make it a condition of the sale that the vendor has to clear the full charging order and interest before you will complete. It’s the vendor’s responsibility to pay it and neither the land Registry or HMRC will tell you how much it is or what it’s for since that is confidential information relating to an outstanding debt.

I doubt that the op can complain since she doesn’t owe the money, this is down to the vendor to sort out.

Isn’t the point of the charging order that the debt is settled from the proceeds of the sale? Who is it on - the current vendors? Or can no one find the details?

Thanks. I don't know how much the charge is for, or any details about their mortgage. The question of whether the proceeds of the sale will cover what is owed is another potential world of pain we may yet have to face!

Thanks for the suggestion - I will definitely suggest they do this if they haven't already

That is my understanding too. It is on the current vendors. But the sale can't proceed until HMRC communicates how much is owed and agrees that it will allow the debt to be paid from the proceeds. At this point, no one will even tell the vendor's solicitors what is owed and who at HMRC can help them do the paperwork etc

You could be in for a long wait. I'd set a timescale of how long you're prepared to wait, then back out

So there’s nothing you can do - it’s in the hands of the vendors and their solicitors. The fact it’s long standing and they haven’t paid it off doesn’t bode well. I’d be looking at other properties and tell the vendor that. If they want to sell they need to get it sorted.

Has your solicitor asked the vendor? They should be able to tell you how much it’s for and also how they plan to pay it off/ get it removed. It’s possible that they are planning to pay it off with the money from the sale as others have said. But unless it’s a probate sale or something went very wrong with their purchase, they will know exactly how much they owe and have people to contact (probably enforcement/ debt collection), reference numbers etc. HMRC have probably sent them hundreds of letters for it to reach this stage.

As others have said HMRC will probably cite taxpayer confidentiality and refuse to tell you anything- for all they know you could be a complete randommer. I think a firm letter from your solicitor clearly making this the seller’s problem and setting a deadline is your best bet.

I wouldn't bother. House sales are complex enough without introducing things like this into the process. I wouldn't spend any more money until the charge is removed.

I'd pull out. It took over 10 months to settle a small tax debt on my MIL's death. This could take years.