NPPR Charge

eisfspike

Registered User
Messages
65
Hi All,

I have a question in relation to the NPPR charge and I know how this will sound but it’s genuinely a friend of mine and not me!

A friend of mine is selling their investment property and I believe the NPPR charge is c. €7k. Nothing was ever paid so the fees and penalties have incurred. They are burying their head in the sand and have put the house up for sale. I believe that the purchasers solicitor will check to ensure that everything is paid in relation to the property so they will caught here and will have to pay the charge in order to close the sale, am I right?. Do Solicitors check this and is there a probability that this will be missed and they won’t have to pay the 7k charge?

Has anyone had any experience in negotiating a reduced NPPR charge directly with the council? There is equity in the house so I don't know if the council would even consider a proposal. Any thoughts welcome.
 
I believe that the purchasers solicitor will check to ensure that everything is paid in relation to the property so they will caught here and will have to pay the charge in order to close the sale, am I right
Yes

Do Solicitors check this
Yes

is there a probability that this will be missed and they won’t have to pay the 7k charge?
No.

There is some scope to reach a settlement in the case of genuine hardship, but otherwise I haven't heard of any reduced settlements. There was guidance issued to all the councils a few years ago to ensure they all followed a standard approach.
 
If your friend doesn't want to pay the tax due tell him to wait until 2025 to sell the house when the liability runs out. Of course he should have paid annually and Councils apply the penalties rigidly which is only right.
 
That's it in a nutshell from RedOnion. The solicitors absolutely WILL check, they've no choice but to do so, and the outstanding charge has to be paid. However, there remains a discretion if your friend can make a case that there was any fault on the councils side at the time eg, unanswered queries from the owner, wrong advice given, that sort of thing. He would want some evidence to back up any case made. However, this was a long time ago, councils' records and paperwork won't always be readily available, staff will have moved on and NPPR isn't really a big issue that they care too much about. So if he can raise any sort of argument at all, it's probably worthwhile pursuing it. If he makes a fuss, I suspect they'll do a deal and agree a lower figure just to close the file.
 
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