Council Tax and probate

Lou22Help

Hi, both my parents have sadly passed away and I’m currently waiting for probate to be granted so we can sell their house.  When they died my daughter moved in (this was only temporary and the house was always going to be sold).  She was paying the bills, including the council tax.  However, she has now moved out and the house will be empty until we sell it.  I know that if the homeowner passes away then the council tax does not have to be paid but I am concerned that because we allowed our daughter to live there briefly we will now have to pay the council tax ourselves.  Can anyone offer any advice on this.
many thanks 

tealady

Suggest you contact the Council as I think (could be wrong though) that rules might vary by country.
If you get no joy from them suggest you contact the local Councillor(s).
HTH

Olinda99

you are partially correct when you say that if the home owner passes away council tax doesn't have to be paid 

I believe there is a period of Grace where you don't have to pay it but otherwise you do - so in other words council tax is due irrespective of whether someone lived there or not

however it is the estate that has  to pay not you and the council will have to wait until probate is granted if the estate has no other funds they can draw on

Keep_pedalling

Olinda99 said:

you are partially correct when you say that if the home owner passes away council tax doesn't have to be paid 

I believe there is a period of Grace where you don't have to pay it but otherwise you do - so in other words council tax is due irrespective of whether someone lived there or not

however it is the estate that has  to pay not you and the council will have to wait until probate is granted if the estate has no other funds they can draw on

The exemption only applies if the house is left unoccupied, and it is the occupiers death rather than the owner’s that the exception applies too, so it can apply to rented property as well.

Now that the property is empty it should apply in this case up to 6 months after probate has been granted.

lincroft1710

I am not certain about this, but I have a feeling that as there was an occupier in the property after the deceased, then the house would no longer be considered to be the deceased's home and any probate linked exemption may not be applicable.

The easiest thing to do would be to contact the council and thoroughly explain the circumstances