Legal advice please re additional funeral fee

Ningaloo

Hello

May I ask for some advice please on a delicate situation.

Family member recently passed away and as I was sole relative left I arranged and paid for her funeral. She passed away in a home due to her personal needs in an area close to me. Previous to that she had lived in the parish for numerous years.

She was buried in a family plot, bought by her parents many years earlier (20+ yrs) but as she at her time of passing lived outside the local area we would have to pay 3 times the cost to open the burial plot. This sum runs into about £700 extra.

At such a delicate time we could not argue and paid but a couple of months later we have written a letter of complaint to the Council but they are standing by their charges.

We received no notification of an increase in charges, you can not find them on the Councils website, its not until a death occurs that anyone is going to find out these 'hidden' costs. How can it cost £700 more to dig a grave for one person then another?

A search of the internet shows all Councils seem to be doing this to increase their revenues.

How can this be lawful is my question?

My appeals seem to be brushed off by the Council.

Does anyone have any advice of how and if this matter could go forward legally?

Voyager2002

Rather than going through the courts, I suggest you try writing to elected councillors or perhaps approaching the local government ombudsman.

I suppose that the rationale for the additional fee is that it is a service that is partly paid for out of the Council Tax paid by local residents, so someone who has not paid Council Tax to support it needs to pay more. (In much the same way that someone who lives in Bath and pays council tax there pays much less to see the Roman ruins than do visitors from elsewhere.)

g6jns_2

deslorna wrote: »

Hello

May I ask for some advice please on a delicate situation.

Family member recently passed away and as I was sole relative left I arranged and paid for her funeral. She passed away in a home due to her personal needs in an area close to me. Previous to that she had lived in the parish for numerous years.

She was buried in a family plot, bought by her parents many years earlier (20+ yrs) but as she at her time of passing lived outside the local area we would have to pay 3 times the cost to open the burial plot. This sum runs into about £700 extra.

At such a delicate time we could not argue and paid but a couple of months later we have written a letter of complaint to the Council but they are standing by their charges.

We received no notification of an increase in charges, you can not find them on the Councils website, its not until a death occurs that anyone is going to find out these 'hidden' costs. How can it cost £700 more to dig a grave for one person then another?

A search of the internet shows all Councils seem to be doing this to increase their revenues.

How can this be lawful is my question?

My appeals seem to be brushed off by the Council.

Does anyone have any advice of how and if this matter could go forward legally?

You need to follow the Council's complaints procedure before you can appeal to the Ombudsman. If the plot was purchased is there any documentation as to increased fees? It is certainly worth pursuing as the decision will have been made by a relatively junior member of staff.

Ningaloo

Thank you for your responses. I have complained through offical routes and via my MP. only have offical ombudsman left to appeal to.

Will have to do this route finally but wanted to find out if I can add to my letter ' notice before legal action' if I do not succeed.

Documentation makes no mention of fees at all.

Plot was opened a few years earlier for another family member in another plot in the same cemetary and no additional charge was made then.


Thank you.

BobQ

deslorna wrote: »

Thank you for your responses. I have complained through offical routes and via my MP. only have offical ombudsman left to appeal to.

Will have to do this route finally but wanted to find out if I can add to my letter ' notice before legal action' if I do not succeed.

Documentation makes no mention of fees at all.

Plot was opened a few years earlier for another family member in another plot in the same cemetary and no additional charge was made then.


Thank you.

You can add whatever you like to the letter although I doubt it will make any difference. The point is that you have to exhaust any organisation's complaints process before an Ombudsman will usually consider the matter. Essentially you need a letter from them that the process has been exhausted.

To succeed you would probably need to show that you were misled and suffered a loss as a result. If the former applies then clearly the latter will.

It is no consolation to you but there is a lesson here for others that paying for the funeral of someone else whose estate does not have the funds to cover the costs is not a good idea.

g6jns_2

deslorna wrote: »

Thank you for your responses. I have complained through offical routes and via my MP. only have offical ombudsman left to appeal to.

Will have to do this route finally but wanted to find out if I can add to my letter ' notice before legal action' if I do not succeed.

Documentation makes no mention of fees at all.

Plot was opened a few years earlier for another family member in another plot in the same cemetary and no additional charge was made then.


Thank you.

Adding letter before action is meaningless unless you intended to go to court. Courts don't take kindly to actions where the other routes to a settlement have been ignored nor with it impress the council

getmore4less

which council ,

all the ones I have had dealings with have the out of parish charges on their web sites if they apply.

Most apply even for pre secured plots.

Some are significantly more than £700 extra.

growler834

Our council have their fees on their website too - £932 for opening a family plot & ANOTHER £932 if the deceased doesn't reside in this city. However, it says this can be waivered at the discretion of the executive officer so the OP should find out if the council in question also have this facility.

Ningaloo

The council is Coleshill.
There is nothing on their website about fees published.

My only concern is the Ombudsmans decision is final and says it can not be appealed.

I just wondered if anyone of a legal background, could advise me if there is any chance of obtaining a refund.

g6jns_2

deslorna wrote: »

The council is Coleshill.
There is nothing on their website about fees published.

My only concern is the Ombudsmans decision is final and says it can not be appealed.

I just wondered if anyone of a legal background, could advise me if there is any chance of obtaining a refund.

As has been previously suggested you should try using the Council's own formal complaints procedure first. You can only go to the Ombudsman after you have done that. Without all the details it is difficult to advise anything else.

getmore4less

edit to research more

which Coleshill there is more than one.