Liability for deceased person's Council Tax

jacques_chirac

poorlittlefish wrote: »

I've never owned the house or seen the will. I stayed there for a few months while I was waiting on completion of my house purchase on an informal basis a couple of years ago and the Council Tax was in my name. When I left I notified the council who'd be living there and their records got changed into the official tenants' names. There was a tenancy agreement for that tenancy.

I asked my Dad today why he didn't go through probate after Grandad died. He said that he'd been quoted £1,700, which he couldn't afford, and that the house wasn't for sale back then. All this time everything just seems to have remained in my Grandad's name. I told him that, him being the executor, my view was that he had responsibility to get everything changed over and paid - and suggested that the council could take legal action against him to recover any money owed to them. This didn't go down well!

If you think this all sounds a bit odd then I'd be the first to agree with you. I don't want my Dad to get into trouble by ignoring letters and thinking he's above the law.

He could have sorted probate himself for £105

BigAunty

jacques_chirac wrote: »

I wonder if the LA has taken the viewpoint that the beneficiary/ executor has deliberately delayed probate in order to avoid liability - and they are billing him because he has been the owner in all but name.

It does make sense and perhaps because the father has buried his head in the sand, he never kept the council updated with the occupiers and progress (or lack of) on the probate.

But I have browsed a lot of council tax websites and I have not identified any time limit to the exemption in the case of an empty property that hasn't yet had the probate completed. Many classes of exemptions do have time limits and other conditions (like being empty of furniture). I just haven't yet came across any time limit to this class of exemption though you'd have thought the govt wouldn't have closed down this revenue sapping process.

I think the OPs best bet is to pursuade his father to supply full information to the council on the property, including date of the death of the occupant, who is the executor, status of the probate, names and period of the occupiers and copies of the tenancy agreement that makes them liable for the CT (though they could be automatically liable on the hierarchy), etc.

CIS

I still cannot find any liability for an estate to pay council tax on an empty property that hasn't yet been granted probate though I'm happy to be challenged on this. I read it as liability starts again after probate and after new ownership but maybe I've misread?

Until probate has been granted and the property remains in the ownership of the estate then it remains exempt from council tax (Class F) whilst it is unoccupied.

Whether the legal ownership of the property has transferred or not would be a matter for probate law - if this was to deem that the estate has been settled then the property ownership would have transferred but that could be an a very long winded and expensive question to answer.

uknick

OP, sorry to complicate this further, but might there also be an issue about evading capital gains tax?

By delaying probate, and therefore transfer of ownership, for a couple of years the person inheriting the house will have reduced any possible gain.

Whilst the delay in probate may be all down to what has been said (and one has no reason to doubt this), HMRC may view it differently. Particularly as the house has been let on a commercial basis during the time it has taken to apply for probate.

Morglin

I would suggest Dad consults a solicitor - a fixed half hour interview doesn't cost much, and he needs to get this sorted out.

Lin