I have a rural renewal property that I was going to sell after hat the ten years. My accountant told me I could sell it ten years after purchase and the closing date is set for 12th August - I purchased it ten years ago in July 2005. However, my accountant's information wasn't correct and it can only be sold ten years after the date of the first lease. This has left me open to at the very least specific performance of the contract and a subsequent claw-back of 140k in reliefs. I challenged my accountant on the misinformation he had given me, and said that if the purchaser refused to delay the sale date by six months and sued me, and there was a claw-back, I would take legal action against him.
Now I had let this rural renewal property in Longford for 8 out of the ten years - for two of the years I just couldn't find tenants despite advertising the property severall times a year via Daft and in the local shop. Tenants would ring me, I would drive down from West Dublin - they either wouldn't turn up, turn up and say they couldn't afford the deposit or turn up and say they only wanted to rent a room. I have saved all the adverts I put up on Daft as proof of the lengths I went to let the property, and the emails between prospective tenants and I - most of whom never turned up. There was no one living in the property - there was just a standing charge on the electricity, and I eventually had to get unoccupied property insurance for the property. Most of the houses in the estate were unoccupied. The property is let again this year, but only because this guy was buying it for his daughter, and she rented it with a view to him buying it for her. My accountant saw no problem in putting in that the property was unlet for two years - and that's what went on the returns, but now after this furore he threatened today to ring Revenue and say that relief was being used despite the property being unlet.
Any coment/advice??
Now I had let this rural renewal property in Longford for 8 out of the ten years - for two of the years I just couldn't find tenants despite advertising the property severall times a year via Daft and in the local shop. Tenants would ring me, I would drive down from West Dublin - they either wouldn't turn up, turn up and say they couldn't afford the deposit or turn up and say they only wanted to rent a room. I have saved all the adverts I put up on Daft as proof of the lengths I went to let the property, and the emails between prospective tenants and I - most of whom never turned up. There was no one living in the property - there was just a standing charge on the electricity, and I eventually had to get unoccupied property insurance for the property. Most of the houses in the estate were unoccupied. The property is let again this year, but only because this guy was buying it for his daughter, and she rented it with a view to him buying it for her. My accountant saw no problem in putting in that the property was unlet for two years - and that's what went on the returns, but now after this furore he threatened today to ring Revenue and say that relief was being used despite the property being unlet.
Any coment/advice??