Your property queries answered

First-timer caught for duty

I bought my apartment in February of this year - closing the sale on the 6th. I am a first-time buyer but it is a second-hand apartment and I was caught for stamp duty. Stamp duty for first-time buyers was abolished from March 31st, 2007, which of course I had no advance notice of, or I would have put back the sale.

Having now seen all the documentation to do with the conveyancing, I see that the deeds to the property were only registered in April. Can I apply for a rebate?

When it comes to the timing of the relief, it has all to do with the "execution of the deeds" not the registration of the deeds. Check back with your solicitor but it is most likely that the execution happened immediately after you signed contracts - in February - and then the documentation was sent to the land registry office for registration which, as you know, happened in your case sometime in April.

Your solicitor will be able to advise you on the dates relevant to you but it is not likely that you are entitled to a rebate.

Planning notice removed

This may sound like a small thing but I am having considerable trouble with a planning notice. We put a notice up on the railings of the house (in Dublin) and unbeknownst to us (we live in west Cork) it was vandalised. The first we heard of this was when the planners informed us that our application was invalid because of the absence of a public notice. We started again and once again noticed that the application has been (partially) removed. What can we do?

Getting planning permission can be difficult enough without this sort of hassle. A site notice for a planning application must be in such a position that it can be read by a passing member of the public. So no putting it up trees or embedding it in a leafy hedge or in the porch when it should be on the railings. However, what this means is that it is also accessible to mindless (and some not-so-mindless - as neighbours have been known to get involved) sabotage. The problem could be that your application is too flimsy in the first place, it's still not unusual to see the A4 sheet in a plastic folder tied with a bit of twine to a railing. Fine if it's in a quiet area, but on a busy main street it's vulnerable.

But where there's a problem, there's a service and a number of companies will erect signage for you, such as Site Notices Ireland (01 498 3220, office@sitenotices.com). Its signs are waterproof and vandal-resistant with an aluminium backing with a protective polycarbonate covering laid on top. The unit is then fastened using security fixings which cannot be removed using conventional tools. As appropriate, the sign is secured to a metal pole or stake, drilled into a wall or attached to railings using heavy-duty metal brackets. The company also offers a monitoring service which you might be interested in as you live so far away from the site.

Send your queries to Property Questions, The Irish Times, The Irish Times Building, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2 or email propertyquestions@irish-times.ie. Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.