Being asked when was furniture removed from the house?

beavere38

I inherited a house. The owner passed in June 2020 and probate was granted in Jan 2021. Now that probate has been granted I am refurbishing it to sell and it has been empty since June 2020. It should be up for sale in 2 weeks.
The council are asking questions including when the furniture was removed. Just wondering why they need to know this? Their questions are to do with council tax which I am not being asked to pay at the moment.

Marcon

beavere38 said:

I inherited a house. The owner passed in June 2020 and probate was granted in Jan 2021. Now that probate has been granted I am refurbishing it to sell and it has been empty since June 2020. It should be up for sale in 2 weeks.
The council are asking questions including when the furniture was removed. Just wondering why they need to know this? Their questions are to do with council tax which I am not being asked to pay at the moment.

If you look on your council's website, it will explain the relevance (varies from council to council).

beavere38

Thanks. I cannot find any mention of removing furniture. This is all I was able to find. I guess I have until July as that is 6 months after probate before council tax may become due.
Class F - property which has remained unoccupied since the death of a person who, at the date of death, had a freehold interest in the dwelling, or a leasehold interest of six months or more. The person liable is liable only in their capacity of executor or administrator. Property may be exempt for up to six months after the grant of probate as long as there is no one else who can be held liable as the owner (this may affect parties in a shared ownership property)

p00hsticks

There may well be a discount for a property being unoccupied ('empty and unfurnished') which your buyer may wish to make use of. The clock on this isn't reset when the property changes hands, so the council need to know when that clock started ticking...

Manxman_in_exile

If the house was unoccupied since the death of the occupier/owner (surely easy enough to establish?) what is the relevance of the date of removal of furniture?  (A house with furniture might not be occupied, and a house without furniture might not be unoccupied).

Or am I being thick?

Spendless

Years ago my council used to give a council tax exemption or discount (I can't remember which) for 6 months on unoccupied properties so long as they were unfurnished. I suspect it is something to do with that. 

Savvy_Sue

Manxman_in_exile said:

If the house was unoccupied since the death of the occupier/owner (surely easy enough to establish?) what is the relevance of the date of removal of furniture?  (A house with furniture might not be occupied, and a house without furniture might not be unoccupied).

Or am I being thick?

You're not being thick, but the assumption is that an unfurnished house will NOT be occupied, whereas one with furniture may or may not be occupied. (If it is occupied, the lack of furniture won't exempt it from CT liability.)

CIS

The council, in this case, will need to know for a) any discount and b) any premium that may need to be applied in future.