Inheritance and Charging Order

jb000

Hi there wonder if anyone can advise me or put me on that right path.

My grandfather passed away in 2008 and left a will.  The will states that the house cannot be sold unless everyone agrees or it will be passed down.  Firstly to my Uncle (who currently lives there) and my mother.  My mother passed away in 2017 and in the event of my Uncles passing, the house will be passed down to me.

I have just found out that the council have put a charging order on the house for non payment of Council Tax in my Uncles name.  He is elderly and thought he got "free council tax", he is not entitled to get Pension Credit.  He just buried his head in the sand and hoped it would all go away.

In the event of my Uncles death, as he has no savings, will the charging order be removed from the property as I have no intention of selling and he will not have the funds to pay it.

As it stated in the will that the property will be passed down through family, can I request the court remove this order?

Any advice given would be appreciated.

Exodi

The charging order would not 'disappear', the executor has a legal obligation to settle any debts before dealing with inheritance.

The house could then either be sold to pay off the charge on the property (should the creditor apply for a forced sale via a court), or you could look to pay the oustanding monies to not sell the property... or convince a judge that the house shouldn't be sold.

Debt wouldn't disappear if there is money (aka property) in the estate.

[Deleted User]

The debt would need to be settled from his estate, so if there are no funds, the property would need to be sold.  

If the executor refused to do so and passed the house down as inheritance, they would become personally liable for the debt.

The preferences of the deceased in a will won't override the legalities of paying creditors.

jb000

A check with the land registry shows that the property is jointly owned by my Uncle and my late mother.  Surely the council cannot go around putting Charging Orders on properties that are also owned by another person without their knowledge.  As I am the executor of my mothers estate, I should have known about this.

I have only just found out about this as I am currently dealing with my uncles utility debts and have a mountain of envelopes to open.

[Deleted User]

As the property would have passed to your uncle, and your mother was not the subject of the debt, there was no need for you to deal with it as Executor, so you didn't miss anything there.

It's only when the property leaves your uncle's possession, by sale or by death, that the debt will be settled.

jb000

Many thanks for your advice.

Galloglass

Does your uncle know that he is passing on his CT debt to whoever inherits? Was there any provision within the will for debts to be secured on the property in this fashion?

In the event of my Uncles death, as he has no savings

If the property is his (for this moment in time) then all his debts will be deducted from the value of the property and whoever inherits may need to raise a loan on the value of the property to pay these off. That could remove the Order(s)