Solicitors failing to hand over stamp duty

A GROWING number of solicitors are failing to hand over to the Revenue stamp duty paid by clients when purchasing property.

Revenue figures indicated that in the first five months of 2009 there have been 155 cases where property agents – the vast majority of whom have been solicitors – effectively defaulted on the payment of stamp duty. This, coupled with the fact that the number of house purchases is falling, represents a dramatic rise compared to previous years, when there were about 200 cases per annum.

Fine Gael TD Brain Hayes, who is pursuing the issue of defaulting solicitors with the Department of Finance, said: “This is a rip-off. If the solicitor does not pay the stamp duty, in full, on the transaction of the property, the property in effect is not registered or stamped.”