Council gave wrong explanation of Class F Council Tax Exemption (property of a deceased person)

Machine_Silver

As an only child, when my Mum passed away in late 2020 she had made me her sole executor and beneficiary of her estate. Her house (our family home where I grew up) was placed under a class F exemption by the council. That’s where the property is exempt for from council tax for up to 6 months after Grant of Probate is obtained as long as it is left unoccupied (defined as not slept in).

Since 2017, I had moved in with my very seriously ill and bedbound Mum to provide 24/7 total care and constant attendance, leaving my own house fully furnished and habitable but unoccupied. I received a Class J exemption (moving out for the sole purpose of providing care to another person) on my own property but immediately upon Mum's death, had this removed and resumed paying full council tax.

The key point here are that there are two houses, but only one person. I can't live in both at once and am paying the full council tax due of my own property. Whilst caring for Mum, I'd had to all but give up my self-employed business and most of my income to car for her and was surviving on Carers Allowance of £64 per week. Oh and by way, for the final 7 months of her life, I cared for her single handed without any external assistance during the first Covid lockdown until 10 hours before she was admitted to hospital and died.

When I called the council 3 days after Mum’s death to let them know, I was told that I would have to immediately move back to my own house (which is near to Mum’s but which now had no working heating or hot water due to failed CH) or the Class F exemption would be removed, my Mum’s house would be reclassified as a second home and would attract council tax at the full, undiscounted rate with immediate effect. I was told the only concession was that I would be able sleep there up to 2 nights a week in order to “sort things out”.

The reason I was given for this was that “The council had decided that if people had two houses they could afford the council tax”. (I have the audio recording of that call).

I asked if there was any discretion given the circumstances but was told that no, there is no leeway, it is the law since 2013 and they could do nothing about it.

As a result, I had to immediately pack up and move back to my own house whilst trying to sort out Mum’s funeral and affairs.

I sought independent advice and was told that:-

1. The council had misinformed me about the class F exemption in that it provides in law for the property to be occupied for any one period of up to 6 weeks which would at least have seen me through the funeral and given me time to get my own house back in working order and move my clothes and belongings back.
2. By the law, the council have overarching discretion to consider exceptional circumstances when requested to do so.
3. That when as in this case the law provides for such discretion, each case must be individually considered on its merits and properly reasoned justification given for not doing so. To fail to do so and apply a blanket rule so as to never give discretion breaches the general legal principle of “Fettering of Discretion”. A number of councils clearly state this principle on their websites. Ours didn’t and still doesn’t.

I successfully pursued a complaint against the council who initially continued to deny that they had such discretion. Eventually, I entrapped them into having to admit that was wrong by citing 3 real world cases where other councils had given such discretion in similar circumstances.

My complaint was upheld, I received a written apology and the council did then exercise the discretion it had previously claimed it didn’t have to allow me to stay at Mum's as long as needed until Grant of Probate was obtained and to "meet insurance requirements".

The really stupid thing here on the part of our Council was that at the outset, had they offered me a 50% discount on Mum's until Probate was Granted, I would have jumped at it and paid it up front so as to not have this problem hanging over me. As it was, probate took more than a year to be granted during which time the council got zero tax on it thus shooting themselves in the foot by the blind (and incorrect) application of rules.

As a final note to this, our council is one that claims it values the huge contributions its carers make and that they are one of its highest priorities. As the saying goes, "all mouth and no trousers!".