Council tax for unoccupied house

Red_dog_Sam

If the property is still under the control of the estate 6 months after probate, the any council tax that becomes due should be paid from the estate by the executor but the executor is not personally liable.

If the property has been transferred to you and your sister then a joint liability exists and you are both personally liable for any charge due.

When you check with the council, also ask about what rules they will apply to empty properties from 1st April 2013 as they will have new powers to scrap Class C exemptions and apply locally set discount rates and surcharges which could affect you if the property is still unsold.

plum2002

Once the exemption finishes you pay the CT and refund yourself from the estate before monies are allocated to beneficiaries, just like all debts of the deceased. 'Some' councils 'might' allow a further exemption until the house is sold and the estate is wound up, it can't hurt to ask.

Ames

Thanks. It's still under the estate rather than belonging to me and sister. Mojisola, there are heating bills (which are going up again now that dad and sister have decided the heating needs to come on every day), I've been worrying about how I'll pay them, the energy companies aren't going to wait forever with bills going up. There's also the mortgage which I'm paying the bulk of, and dad paying a little bit, because they took us to court and it was either pay or have the house repossessed.

Ideally I'd like to have the CT charged to the estate and paid along with all the other debts, but it seems thath that's discretionary to the council. I'll email them tomorrow about it, it'll be useful to find out what happens from April because I'll probably have to start paying my own CT then too, which along with the costs for mum's house will leave me well into negative figures on my monthly outgoings and no way to cover it.

plum2002

I didn't have to pay Dads monthly mortgage payments until the house was sold, the solicitor wrote to the mortgage company and they held fire until the house was sold, at which point I paid the back payments and the debt off. BTW leaving the heating on at 14 degrees is what the energy company advised and the solicitor said that was normal..........the bill wasn't huge. Again, the bills were paid when the estate was wound up before beneficiaries were paid.

tsmiggy

I had a very similar situation,with paying council tax,on a property that was for sale.In the end i finished up paying the total less 25%,and i was told if it was furnished i would of got a further 10% off.

Ames

plum2002 wrote: »

I didn't have to pay Dads monthly mortgage payments until the house was sold, the solicitor wrote to the mortgage company and they held fire until the house was sold, at which point I paid the back payments and the debt off. BTW leaving the heating on at 14 degrees is what the energy company advised and the solicitor said that was normal..........the bill wasn't huge. Again, the bills were paid when the estate was wound up before beneficiaries were paid.

Our solicitor wrote to the mortgage company, they wrote back saying all was fine and two days later court papers arrived. We had to pay off all the arrears that had accumulated since mum died and agree to the contractual monthly amount or they'd have been granted reposession. Our solicitor tried to make offers but they just ignored us until we were in front of the judge. And are charging us thousands for their legal fees.

They're also making it incredibly difficult to actually pay the monthly amount, they keep 'losing' paperwork for the direct debit, and writing to the wrong people (ie asking sister for authorisation, then a few weeks later realising she can't give it and asking me, by which point they'd lost the DD mandate...)

The heating last winter came to £900, although it was reduced to £300 for some reason - either mum was in credit or they'd double billed at some point.

CIS

Ideally I'd like to have the CT charged to the estate and paid along with all the other debts, but it seems thath that's discretionary to the council.

Its not discretionary - either council tax liability remains with the estate or not. Any relevant exemptions would then be applied and any bill sent either to the estate or the new owner.

Dunroamin

Ames wrote: »

Thanks. It's still under the estate rather than belonging to me and sister. Mojisola, there are heating bills (which are going up again now that dad and sister have decided the heating needs to come on every day), I've been worrying about how I'll pay them, the energy companies aren't going to wait forever with bills going up. There's also the mortgage which I'm paying the bulk of, and dad paying a little bit, because they took us to court and it was either pay or have the house repossessed.

Ideally I'd like to have the CT charged to the estate and paid along with all the other debts, but it seems thath that's discretionary to the council. I'll email them tomorrow about it, it'll be useful to find out what happens from April because I'll probably have to start paying my own CT then too, which along with the costs for mum's house will leave me well into negative figures on my monthly outgoings and no way to cover it.

Sorry Ames, I know the problems you've had with your rellies but you're the executor and if you don't want the heating on because of the cost then that's what should happen.

Why don't you just slash the price and get rid?

Ames

There's lots of reasons:

1. I'd be failing in my duty as executor to get the best possible price.
2. The DWP could accuse me of deprivation of capital, selling it cheaply to reduce the impact on means tested benefits.
3. The contract for sale is between the EA and my sister, not me.

As for the heating, I can sort of understand it coming on, especially with no insurance, in case of burst pipes and things, but I think they put it on far too early (in October), and that it doesn't need to be on everywhere. It's far too minor an issue to fight over, especially given that we owe dad somewhere in the region of 10k and so can't afford to upset him.

Dunroamin

Ames wrote: »

There's lots of reasons:

1. I'd be failing in my duty as executor to get the best possible price.
2. The DWP could accuse me of deprivation of capital, selling it cheaply to reduce the impact on means tested benefits.
3. The contract for sale is between the EA and my sister, not me.

As for the heating, I can sort of understand it coming on, especially with no insurance, in case of burst pipes and things, but I think they put it on far too early (in October), and that it doesn't need to be on everywhere. It's far too minor an issue to fight over, especially given that we owe dad somewhere in the region of 10k and so can't afford to upset him.

I didn't mean slash it to a giveaway price but slash it to a price where it actually sells. (Have you posted about this on the Housing Board. There are lots of people who can tell you whether you're asking the right price and give you tips on how to sell it.)

I agree that it's too early to have heating on this early - most systems have a frost setting you can use to protect your pipes. As the executor, if you think it shouldn't be on yet or not so much, that's the way it should be.