Council tax, probate and duty to retain

lola-909

yes just had exactly the same conversation again re Cornwall Council - one of the most poverty stricken counties with some of the highest water rates bills I have ever seen - and now this. 

RockLobster300

I'm jumping on this thread as I'm having the same problem with Cornwall Council.  Probate has been granted and my father's house is now up for sale. They just spout this "duty to retain" at me and insist I have to pay full council tax.  I've recently removed the furniture - will this make any difference at all? It seems to allow exemption everywhere else but Cornwall!   

RockLobster300

Also want to add - I am both the executor and the beneficiary, however the estate agent told me the house doesn't even get put in my name, but will go straight to the buyer when I get one.   At the moment it's a struggle to pay the upkeep on 2 homes.

mybestattempt

RockLobster300 said:

Also want to add - I am both the executor and the beneficiary, however the estate agent told me the house doesn't even get put in my name, but will go straight to the buyer when I get one.   At the moment it's a struggle to pay the upkeep on 2 homes.

That's the sensible way to deal with the property sale, the estate sells it, the estate meets the selling costs and in the meantime running costs fall to the estate.

It isn't necessary to transfer to a beneficiary before sale and avoids the legal costs for transferring, the beneficiary incurring the sale costs and exposure to potential capital gains tax.

Keep_pedalling

mybestattempt said:

RockLobster300 said:

Also want to add - I am both the executor and the beneficiary, however the estate agent told me the house doesn't even get put in my name, but will go straight to the buyer when I get one.   At the moment it's a struggle to pay the upkeep on 2 homes.

That's the sensible way to deal with the property sale, the estate sells it, the estate meets the selling costs and in the meantime running costs fall to the estate.

It isn't necessary to transfer to a beneficiary before sale and avoids the legal costs for transferring, the beneficiary incurring the sale costs and exposure to potential capital gains tax.

It is also important not to do this if any beneficiary is not already a home owner as they will lose their first time buyer status.

RockLobster300

mybestattempt said:

RockLobster300 said:

Also want to add - I am both the executor and the beneficiary, however the estate agent told me the house doesn't even get put in my name, but will go straight to the buyer when I get one.   At the moment it's a struggle to pay the upkeep on 2 homes.

That's the sensible way to deal with the property sale, the estate sells it, the estate meets the selling costs and in the meantime running costs fall to the estate.

It isn't necessary to transfer to a beneficiary before sale and avoids the legal costs for transferring, the beneficiary incurring the sale costs and exposure to potential capital gains tax.

Surely have to pay the sale costs anyway as it would come out of the profit?  I'm interested in the CGT issue too as I underestimated the probate value at the time and it's gone up for sale at a fair bit more. 

uknick

If there is a significant difference between probate and sale values, you are supposed to tell HMRC.  They may decide to value the property themselves to see if it is CGT or IHT due.   However, if your original probate valuation were done by a professional valuer, chartered surveyor for instance, with written justification as to the valuation method, it is unlikely HMRC would want to change the probate value.

But, if you just got a couple of estate agent valuations and there is a significant amount of IHT at stake HMRC may well send in their own team.