Death of Named Tenant - Bills

Guerillatoker

My mum completely unexpectedly passed away last month (though the death was not certified until 11/12 due to postmortem) leaving no will & no assets but also no debt owing to a Debt Relief Order which had expired by the time she passed away. Her only surviving family are her 3 children. As far as I am aware none of us have been officially nominated to be in charge of my mums affairs. I am yet to fully understand if one of us needs to owing to the lack of assets & debts (if anyone wishes to advise that would be great).

EDIT: Funeral has already been paid for in equal measure by me and my brother.

I lived with my mum in a Council house where I currently remain resident in but am pretty sure I cannot succeed (due to previous succession), though I haven't received any notices to vacate yet. I now need to find somewhere to live and as a result I am trying to avoid any unnecessary expenditure and plan to stay in the property as long as legally possible (and financially reasonable) - I estimate 6 weeks if the Council are on the ball. As I am not a tenant, I will not be paying rent until I succeed the tenancy and will not if I do not succeed.

EDIT: Council has been informed and request to succeed tenancy has been submitted.

Though I was not a named tenant I used to pay for the Utility Bills that were in my mums name (except water). As it stands I have stopped all my direct debits for bills at the property. I have notified the water but not anyone else, they set up an account in my name but haven't charged me yet, though it is only an est £24p/m. She has no credit accounts (I have access to her credit reports because I set them up for her), just bills related to the home.

I am wondering what would be the most advisable action on the below bills, considering I am still making use of the property and there are no assets to pay for any bills that accrue:
-Council Tax
-TV License (I have no intention of watching live TV)
-Electric & Gas
-Water
-Rent (I'm pretty confident I have no liabiltiy to pay this until I am a tenant).
-Current Account

EDIT: If I am successful in succeeding the tenancy (which I think is very unlikely) I will have no problem paying accrued bills.

Keep_pedalling

First off a TV licence is required for more than live TV, so you may still need one.

As you are the currently the sole occupant you are responsible for paying all those other bills including any rent due.

badmemory

but only from the date of death - not for any arrears that may have accumulated before that date.


If there are no assets & a possibility of debts then none of you should touch the estate. When her death was registered did you use tell us once? If she was on any means tested benefits the DWP may want some of the money back. You are not responsible if there was no money left to pay. Any money she had should have gone to pay for her funeral, that is a priority debt.


I am by no means an expert on this but there are many threads on here which could help you.

Keep_pedalling

badmemory wrote: »

but only from the date of death - not for any arrears that may have accumulated before that date.


If there are no assets & a possibility of debts then none of you should touch the estate. When her death was registered did you use tell us once? If she was on any means tested benefits the DWP may want some of the money back. You are not responsible if there was no money left to pay. Any money she had should have gone to pay for her funeral, that is a priority debt.


I am by no means an expert on this but there are many threads on here which could help you.

I got the impression the OP was living at the property prior to death, if that is so they are responsible for any bills due.

Kynthia

All the utilities accounts need to be ended as of the date of your mother's death and new accounts started in your name from then as the only occupant of the property. You don't get to use gas, electric, water, etc without paying for them. I don't know about rent but I'm fairly sure as the occupant you are now liable for council tax too. I'm sorry for your loss. However I'm presuming you are an adult so you need to pay your way. If you can't afford all these bills then you need to find a way (earn more or claim benefits if entitled) to pay or live somewhere you can afford.

Keep_pedalling

As there is now Bly one occupant then the council tax can be reduced to the single occupant rate.