Council tax demand on empty property

Watson

If this is the wrong area for this, apologies.

I've just received a council tax demand for £423 arrears on my late father's bungalow. The property became empty from July 2012 (and the council were informed of this at the time) and it remained unoccupied until it was sold in September 2013.

I just spoke to the council and was told that although no tax was payable for the first six months of the bungalow being empty it became payable again after that period had expired. However, today's bill was the first indication I've had that this money was outstanding. "I don't know why you haven't been notified before," I was told.

Do I have any legal position over this or will I, as executor of my father's will, have to pay up?

Many thanks.

davidmcn

I don't see scope for arguing about it simply because they're late in chasing it up (did you not correspond with them about council tax at the time of the sale?). It's a liability of the estate, so if there were assets available then the executors ought to have settled the council tax account.

Victor_the_Gink

So there is a 9 month period for which you are liable? They have 6 years to collect this (5 in Scotland) so can't really see any grounds for not paying this.

MobileSaver

Watson wrote: »

Do I have any legal position over this or will I, as executor of my father's will, have to pay up?

The legal position is that the outstanding council tax has to be paid out of the estate's funds/assets and you as executor were responsible for checking whether council tax was due and, now that you know it is, you are responsible for paying it. If you have already distributed any monies then the beneficiaries should between them pay the outstanding bill but ultimately as executor it will be your responsibility even if any other beneficiaries refuse to pay.

Watson

Thanks for the speedy replies; much appreciated. I was co-executor along with my late father's solicitor so I might talk to her about the position. I didn't know about council tax becoming due again on an empty property after a six month period.

AnotherJoe

Watson wrote: »

Thanks for the speedy replies; much appreciated. I was co-executor along with my late father's solicitor so I might talk to her about the position. I didn't know about council tax becoming due again on an empty property after a six month period.

Thats not the councils problem though, nor does it release you from liability.

Watson

I wasn't suggesting that it was or did; I'm perfectly willing to pay the arrears if it's a legitimate demand. It's a pity though that I didn't receive a bill back in 2013: I had the money then.

CIS

The council can issue a demand notice at any time - even years later, if needed -, there is no requirement to notify a person in advance. There is a requirement to issue statutory information with demand notices regarding discounts, exemptions etc. but this obviously does not apply until the demand is actually issued.

Once a demand notice is issued the local authority have 6 years to obtain a liability order however a liability order would not need to be obtained to recover monies from an estate. The recovery would follow the standard rules for collecting debts owed by an estate.

Craig

marliepanda

Did you inform them of an address to send correspondence to when you informed them of your fathers death?

Was it your address or a solicitors?

Watson

CIS wrote: »

The recovery would follow the standard rules for collecting debts owed by an estate.

Thanks, Craig. I'll check up on just what those rules are.

agrinnall

Watson wrote: »

Thanks for the speedy replies; much appreciated. I was co-executor along with my late father's solicitor so I might talk to her about the position. I didn't know about council tax becoming due again on an empty property after a six month period.

While it's not unreasonable that you wouldn't know about the CT position it perhaps should be expected that the solicitor would have a better understanding and should have either checked with the council or advised you to check. I'd suggest a complaint to the solicitor might get you some sort of ex-gratia payment towards the outstanding bill.