Land Tax Liability Scenario

From: John P


Ok all you legal eagles and others, I need some input on the following scenario.

Vendor wants to sell house but vendor owes Office of State revenue 10 years worth of unpaid Land Tax. Vendor does'nt pay land tax and sells house to buyer. During exchange of legal paperwork/contracts, buyer's solicitor/conveyancer does not pick up on the the fact that land tax is owed and purchase goes through as per normal.

Question: Is the buyer then liable for Vendor's outstanding land tax, or do they have any legal recourse? (ie) Can they force the person they bought the House from pay what they should have paid in the first place??

Thanks

John
 
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Reply: 1
From: Anonymous


you're f&*@ed. Sue your lawyer. Land tax clearance certificate is part of conveyancing 101!
 
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Reply: 2
From: The Wife


John, I think the person who owns the land, is liable for the tax regardless of previous owners, I would say its time to take conveyancer to court. Hope Im wrong, but I think thats why they are called "conveyancers"?

TW
~Life is a daring adventure, or nothing at all~
 
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Reply: 3
From: John P


Just for the record, this is not something that happened to me personally, but it may have already happened to a relative of mine

John
 
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Reply: 4.1
From: Roderick Aguilar


John,

TW is right - "the person who owns the land, is liable for the tax regardless of previous owners". I recently went through this as two accountants have not picked this up at all. And to rub salt to the wound, the tax office also charged me INTEREST on the money owed over the entire period!

Based on my solicitor's advice I had to pay the unpaid land tax. But I disputed the interest payable. Wrote two letters stating my case and they kindly and firmly said, "Thanks, but not thanks, Pay Up". And so I did. But never again....

Cheers,

Roderick Aguilar
 
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