Council tax on a deceased person's property

TheGoldfish

My mother plassed away in January this year and probate was granted on 4 April. She owned her house and there had been no one living there since my mother died.
On 25th June I received a Council Tax Demand Notice for 2024/25 stating :-

Council Tax 1/4/2024 - 3/04/2024                                             £17
Exemption Class F - Unoccuplied - Awaiting Probate               £17  CR

Council Tax 4/4/2024 - 31/3/2025                                         £2155
Exemption Class F - Deceased - Probate Granted              £2155  CR

AMOUNT PAYABLE                                                                     0

Today I received a new Council Tax Demand Notice for 2024/25 stating :-

Council Tax 1/4/2024 - 3/04/2024                                             £17
Exemption Class F - Unoccuplied - Awaiting Probate               £17  CR

Council Tax 4/4/2024 - 3/10/2024                                         £1089
Exemption Class F - Deceased - Probate Granted              £1089  CR

Council Tax 4/10/2024 - 31/3/2025                                       £1065
C2 Empty (No Discount)                                                             £0

AMOUNT PAYABLE                                                              £1065

Given that there has been no change in circumstances between those two dates and the house remains empty I was surprised to get the second council tax notice. When I telephoned the council they advised it is because the exemption only lasts 6 months. I argued that the notice dated 25/6/2024 said that the exemption was for the period of 4/4/2024 - 31/3/2025 and not for just 6 months. There were no covering letters or notes to explain reasoning behind either tax notice or the change in the amount demanded for the 2024/25 tax year.

Does this sound right? Is the exemption on an empty property only for six months? If it is then how can councils send out such misleading Council Tax Demand Notices? Thank you.

p00hsticks

Yes, it's correct that the Class F exemption for properties left empty following the death of the occupant only applies for the first six months following probate.

Are you sure there was no other explanatory information in with the initial bill - when I dealt with my brothers estate there was information accompanying the initial revised bill that made it clear that the exemption was only for this period and that as executor I needed to let the council know as soon as probate was granted (although I believe they look for it anyhow).

Rodders53

Simple mistake in first bill. Both lines should have been Probate Awaited.  Probably.

Class F lasts 6 months from Grant of Probate. 

What's stopped the sale of the empty property?

Beware some Councils may charge double CT for empty dwellings.

TheGoldfish

p00hsticks said:

Are you sure there was no other explanatory information in with the initial bill - when I dealt with my brothers estate there was information accompanying the initial revised bill that made it clear that the exemption was only for this period and that as executor I needed to let the council know as soon as probate was granted (although I believe they look for it anyhow).

Definately certain nothing was in today's notice and fairly certain there was nothing in the notice dated 25 June. They did look up the probate date themselves

TheGoldfish

Rodders53 said:

Simple mistake in first bill. Both lines should have been Probate Awaited.  Probably.

Class F lasts 6 months from Grant of Probate. 

What's stopped the sale of the empty property?

Beware some Councils may charge double CT for empty dwellings.

It would have been incorrect to state Probate Awaited on both lines. The initial notice was split between 01/04/2024 - 03/04/2024 and 04/04/2024 - 3103/2025 because probate was granted on 4/4/2024

The initial notice stated F2 lasted from 04/04/2024 to 31/03/2025. If it should only be for 6 months then the first notice was wrong

The lack of an interested buyer. For most viewers the garden is too small and/or it needs too much work to be done to it and/or not enough parking space. 

This council won't start doing that for 2 years.

Sarahspangles

TheGoldfish said:

Given that there has been no change in circumstances between those two dates and the house remains empty I was surprised to get the second council tax notice. When I telephoned the council they advised it is because the exemption only lasts 6 months. I argued that the notice dated 25/6/2024 said that the exemption was for the period of 4/4/2024 - 31/3/2025 and not for just 6 months. There were no covering letters or notes to explain reasoning behind either tax notice or the change in the amount demanded for the 2024/25 tax year.

Does this sound right? Is the exemption on an empty property only for six months? If it is then how can councils send out such misleading Council Tax Demand Notices? Thank you.

As others have said, the exemption lasts for six months from grant of probate.

The way you have been billed is correct. It’s because of the unusual way Council Tax billing works.

Council Tax bills are issued annually and the whole amount is due at the beginning of the financial year, although for most people, they do offer payment by instalments. A bill that states you owe anything is due immediately, there’s no way to forward bill for tax that will only become due at a later date, without you also making a payment arrangement immediately. Once your exemption ended, a new bill was issued at the point they could charge you.

I agree there ought to be better explanation so people are prepared - this catches out households with final year students too. But it would be online or on the back of bills as per other tax systems.

TheGoldfish

Sarahspangles said:

A bill that states you owe anything is due immediately, there’s no way to forward bill for tax that will only become due at a later date, without you also making a payment arrangement immediately. Once your exemption ended, a new bill was issued at the point they could charge you.

I agree there ought to be better explanation so people are prepared - this catches out households with final year students too. But it would be online or on the back of bills as per other tax systems.

I think there were two possible ways to stop/reduce any confusion. 

1) Issue an initial Council Tax Demand Notice that states the period covered was April 2024 to September 2024 at £0.00. Then in September issue another Council Tax Demand Notice for October 2024 to March 2025 for £1065. This only requires one to change first notice

2) The second Council Tax Demand Notice I received included a breakdown of monthly dates that payments are expected. They could have issued one Demand Notice for the £1065 with a monthly payment breakdown starting after the inital six months is over.

I was pleasantly surprised that Probate only took five weeks to come through. Shame it didnt take longer🙂

trevjl

Bringing up an old thread as just happened to me.
Mum died in April and I spoke to the council, I was informed that her flat would be exempt and then for another 6 months after probate. Probate was granted on 1st June, taking less than 4 weeks. The flat is still unsold and I have now received a bill for £492. 
Two things strike me about this ludicrous council tax system in these circumstances.
If someone was living there there would be a 25% reduction, Nobody lives there you pay full price. How the heck can that be right.
Why should you have to pay council tax when the person that owns the property is certainly not using any council services.
It's crazy that when they can clearly see that the property is up for sale. They can whistle until it's sold

lincroft1710

trevjl said:

Bringing up an old thread as just happened to me.
Mum died in April and I spoke to the council, I was informed that her flat would be exempt and then for another 6 months after probate. Probate was granted on 1st June, taking less than 4 weeks. The flat is still unsold and I have now received a bill for £492. 
Two things strike me about this ludicrous council tax system in these circumstances.
If someone was living there there would be a 25% reduction, Nobody lives there you pay full price. How the heck can that be right.
Why should you have to pay council tax when the person that owns the property is certainly not using any council services.
It's crazy that when they can clearly see that the property is up for sale. They can whistle until it's sold

CT is a tax on property not a direct payment for services. 


Parliament in its wisdom or otherwise decided that there would be a 25% SPD reduction. Because there is a housing shortage, parliament decided that to discourage leaving properties empty not only would there be no discount (except for the 6 months post probate) but a surcharge would be applied if left empty for too long