A couple buying their first home have missed out on a tax refund up to €30,000 under the Help to Buy (HTB) scheme over what they claim was a “typographical error” made by their valuer.
This follows the Tax Appeals Commission (TAC) dismissing the first time buyers’ appeal against a Revenue Commissioners’ decision last September to refuse the couple their HTB application.
The Revenue Commissioners refused the couple’s Help to Buy scheme application after pointing out that the valuation of their self-build home on the bank’s mortgage approval letter was €510,000.
Revenue pointed out that in order to qualify for the HTB scheme a property cannot be valued higher than €500,000.
However, the couple blamed a “typo” by their valuer valuing the home at €510,000 instead €500,000.
To date the Help to Buy scheme has helped over 65,000 individuals or couples to buy or build their own and the scheme can provide up to €30,000 to applicants through a tax refund.
In their appeal, the couple submitted that the €510,000 figure “was an unintentional typographical error by our valuer”.
They state that the actual agreed purchase price of the property is €500,000, as stated in the official letter from the valuer.
They said that “our mortgage letter of approval valued our purchase price of the house on completion as €510,000. At the time of approval, we were unaware of the significance of this valuation as this was our first time building/purchasing a property”.
An email from the valuer to the couple stated that “it has come to my attention that the valuation that I carried out for the above there was a typo error on the valuation. The value for the house should have been €500,000 not €510,000”.
The couple state that they always intended to avail of the Help to Buy scheme “as it is essential in building our first family home, especially with the rate of inflation in recent times”.
However, in dismissing the couple’s appeal, Commissioner Jo Kenny said that she was satisfied that the documentation presented shows that the valuation of the property which was approved by the bank at the time the loan was entered into was €510,000, which exceeded the maximum purchase value of €500,000 provided for in the legislation.
Ms Kenny said that she does not regard the fact that the valuer subsequently stated there was an error in the valuation as altering the valuation which was approved by the bank at the time the loan was entered into.
Ms Kenny said that while she has sympathy for the couple’s position, the legislation affords no discretion on the matter.
She found that the couple were not entitled to receive payment under the HTB and Revenue was correct to refuse the claim.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
