Stamp Duty Refund - Scam ?

[pdnw10]

I have been sent a letter after a recent property purchase saying I am due a refund on the SDLT I paid.
While the company seem legit and do not mention no win no fee.
I am just dubious that they expect to use some ADET or promise to sell to a company etc
ploy that HMRC have already shutdown etc.
Has anyone experience of legit actions to claim a refund that does not stir up a hornets nest at HMRC
If its not legit why go to the trouble of getting the land registry transactions and sending letters
even if it is all cut and paste or word template
They must expect to be able to convince people certain actions are ok.
Note the transaction was before April 2016 so no extra charges that might not have applied.

Comments or Experience to relate.

[degsie]

Although I don't have anything objective to say, subjectively this just sreams SCAM so loudly that I am metaphorically deafened. Although there are schemes to avoid/mitigate SDLT (some even more dubious than others), I don't see how anything could be applied retrospectively. You obviously know this yourself - so I'd go with your gut feelings and change the questions mark in your post title to an explanation mark.
Cheers - David
(Disclaimer - IAMNAL!)

[supremetwo]

From this, one would expect your conveyancer to be dealing with it:-

http://www.macintyrehudson.co.uk/blog-p ... d-too-much

So the question is, have you recently dealt with a high value property that could potentially have had an annex? If so, SDLT is likely to have been overpaid by your client potentially exposing you to a professional indemnity issue.

[pdnw10]

Thanks supremetwo
as you said my conveyancer should have asked about multiple dwelling stuff
but it was a single large house so I expect it never came up

while the letter I received was professional it was very vague and some sort of windows merge generated letter
it does have some proper motivation as people make mistakes
so not a scam as such but a fishing expedition for consultation fees

this multiple dwellings stuff is probably going to be shut off in april
hence a deadline to reclaim over payment.

I welcome the education on the complex world of property transactions

of course I could make my own reclaim if I thought there was any merit in it.

thanks everyone for their time and effort

[Clitheroekid]

I have been sent a letter after a recent property purchase saying I am due a refund on the SDLT I paid.

Can you say what you paid for the property, what sort of property it was and how much SDLT you paid?

Who sent the letter, and exactly what does it say? If it's not asking for any payment up front then I suppose you've nothing to lose in at least taking it to the next stage, if only out of curiosity.

[pdnw10]

I paid 980K for a 4 bedroom terraced house in London which needed 41K SDLT.

The house was occupied by an old person who rented rooms.

The letter cam from a central London firm who I expect were looking at 'did it have an annex'
and hence multiple dwelling.

There is no need to continue my curiosity as supremetwo with that link is enough to clarify
that some sort of multiple dwelling mechanism exists but in my case it does not apply.

The letter did not mention multiple dwelling but this seems the only really legal mechanism
and even that is not universally applicable and may be phased out.

some postings like 'does an HMO have multiple dwelling discount' seems to show people are aware
and hope it applies.

As I said this multiple dwelling does not apply to my purchase as no annex with separate entrance
or anything that is anything than a single dwelling.