Council Tax and deceased property

londonman42

Morally it stinks but Govt policy says that if someone dies, you only get 6 months Council Tax exemption after probate. Our mother's flat is in a residential home and been on the market since the beginning of the year. The market is flat if not dead.



So the executors are being asked for the Council Tax. But there is no money in the estate until the flat is sold. Can the Council start claiming the tax directly from the executors ?


TIA

lisyloo

Sorry for your loss.

No executors don’t have to pay.

I sold an empty property recently when my FIL died and MiL became self funded in her nursing home but couldn’t pay the fees until property was sold.
We got a loan from the local authority, but they wanted an “undertaking” from our solicitor to pay the bill as soon as the property was sold.
The money went direct from the solicitor (along with estate agent, solicitors fees).

I would ask them whether they want a formal “undertaking” from your solicitor or simply a letter from the executors to commit to payment.

Once you’ve committed to pay that should get them off your back.
They are used to this situation so might have a process.
They will be happy once they have agreement to pay.
For nursing fees it was quite formal.
It may be less arduous for council tax but don’t be surprised if want some form of confirmation that it will be paid when the property is sold.

Btw - if you are in fact in London then angellaw in chapel market are cheap if you need a solicitor.

AdrianC

lisyloo wrote: »

No, tell them there is no money in the estate to pay it.

But there is... There's the value of the property.

OP - it's clearly too expensive, reduce the price.

Six months after probate is, what, a year after the death?

davidmcn

AdrianC wrote: »

Six months after probate is, what, a year after the death?

I thought it was just six months' exemption for unfurnished/unoccupied properties, irrespective of when probate is granted?

In any event no, they can't claim the council tax from the executors as individuals, only from the estate. Just tell them the property is being marketed and that they'll need to wait, they'll be used to it (as will any other creditor who's used to dealing with deceased debtors).

londonman42

AdrianC wrote: »

But there is... There's the value of the property.

OP - it's clearly too expensive, reduce the price.

Six months after probate is, what, a year after the death?

No the price is right. It's the market that is stone cold. Thank you Brexit.

No ...I got probate in three weeks.

Larac

londonman42 wrote: »

No the price is right. It's the market that is stone cold. Thank you Brexit.

No ...I got probate in three weeks.

I do sympathize - it took 18 months to sell my late Mum's retirement flat - not easy flats to sell - we had to reduce the price to make it attractive enough. We were battling to sell against seven others up for sale at the same time in the complex.

Something to be wary of in our CT area, it doubles after a year, if still empty!

PasturesNew

londonman42 wrote: »

No the price is right. It's the market that is stone cold. Thank you Brexit.

To be fair, it's a couple of things.

1/ These type of flats are notoriously slow to sell. Always have been, always will.

2/ The market for buying/selling houses has changed in recent years. Before, you'd be waiting for a downsizer to sell their house. Before Help2Buy that person could have sold their house to anybody, including FTBs. Now FTBs are targetted with H2B it means they're only buying new builds, so your potential buyer is fighting that problem and waiting for somebody who isn't a FTB and doesn't want a new build.

xylophone

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/75010829#Comment_75010829

Did the £30,000 mentioned in the above belong to your late mother?

If so, could part of that not be used to pay the CT bill (assuming that it has not been used up in funeral expenses and debts)?

CIS

Council Tax is one of those things that is regularly forgotten about (or in some cases ignored) when people are dealing with an estate. In real terms it is a debt just like any other debt that should be covered by the estate and, if required, the council could take action against the estate to recover any monies.

6 month from probate is normally more than adequate to deal with an estate, there will be some that take longer but in most cases property is readily sorted. The system tries to find a balance between the two extremes.

csgohan4

londonman42 wrote: »

No the price is right. It's the market that is stone cold. Thank you Brexit.

No ...I got probate in three weeks.

Brexit has mostly nothing to do with housing market, people will always need a house. You don't sell your house in Euros do you?

The price is clearly not right with no offers is it? slow market or otherwise

if you realistically want to sell soon, price it accordingly or wait a long long time for the price you have set at present and be prepared to swallow maintenance costs of keeping an unoccupied house

londonman42

PasturesNew wrote: »

To be fair, it's a couple of things.

1/ These type of flats are notoriously slow to sell. Always have been, always will.

Not strictly true. When my late mother bought her flat, there was a queue to buy.

PasturesNew wrote: »

2/ The market for buying/selling houses has changed in recent years. Before, you'd be waiting for a downsizer to sell their house. Before Help2Buy that person could have sold their house to anybody, including FTBs. Now FTBs are targetted with H2B it means they're only buying new builds, so your potential buyer is fighting that problem and waiting for somebody who isn't a FTB and doesn't want a new build.

Again, I'm not 100% convinced that that is the case here. The type of person (or couple) looking to buy this type of flat - which is warden assisted, there are people on site 24/7 - are relatively elderly but not yet ready for a care home. Chances are their property is not the type that a first time buyer would look at.