The conveyancing firm that handled Angela Rayner’s £800,000 flat purchase on the south coast has stated it did not provide her with tax advice and completed her stamp duty return solely based on details she supplied.
Joanna Verrico, head of the small family-run firm in Kent, said on Thursday that no guidance was given to the deputy prime minister regarding the amount of stamp duty owed.
The issue of advice – or lack thereof – is central to questions surrounding Rayner’s alleged underpayment of up to £40,000 in tax. It is expected to be a key focus of the upcoming report by the prime minister’s ethics adviser, Laurie Magnus, which could be delivered later today.
The sources close to Rayner said she was given three separate pieces of legal advice before purchasing the flat at the centre of the row.
They said a conveyancer and two experts in trust law had all suggested the stamp duty she paid on the property was correct, and she acted on the advice she was given at the time.
“We acted for Ms Rayner when she purchased the flat in Hove. We did not and never have given tax or trust advice. It’s something we always refer our clients to an accountant or tax expert for”, Verrico said.
David Smith, a property litigation partner at the London law firm Spector Constant & Williams, weighed in with his perspective on the matter.
He said: “Stamp Duty Land Tax is notoriously complex, particularly when the nuances of trusts and higher rate liabilities are involved. If Angela Rayner disclosed the full circumstances and was told by multiple advisers that no extra duty was due, then the error lies with the advice, not with her intent.
“The optics are difficult politically, but from a legal standpoint, the key point is that she has acknowledged the mistake, referred herself to the standards committee, and is working with HMRC to put things right.”
However, a former government ethics adviser told The Independent that while they did not believe Rayner intentionally attempted to avoid taxes, her position as housing secretary was now untenable.
“For her judgement, it does not look good to have thought she could get away with paying less tax,” the advisor tod the press. “You would have hoped and thought that your instinct as a Labour politician, who is also the housing minister, would be to – even if there was a modicum of doubt that you are technically liable for second home stamp duty – that you should just pay it.”
“I think that the most survivable version of this is that you’d end up with a reshuffle. It’s quite hard to imagine her carrying on doing housing and her standing up in the House and talking about second homes,” the advisor added.
