Friend has been living with parents & hasn’t paid council tax

[Misscbu17]

A friend of mine has been living with their elderly parents 4 nights max a week and now they’ve recently both passed away in quick succession of one another, they are extremely worried they will be investigated for not having paid additional council tax (their parents paid ct) or having declared they lived there etc. Most of the persons documents relate to their parents address though.

main issue is they are listed as an executor on the will and the address they will provide will be that of their deceased parents. The deceased parents also received careers allowance as one of the parents was able to care for the other parent until they became unwell.

I’m asking on behalf of my friend as they are dealing with grief as well as this added worry and is worried sick about what will happen next.

Why would they have to pay additional council tax? Had your friend looked up her local council's website?

Council tax is on the house, not the person (albeit a single adult occupier can obtain a 25% reduction).

Where are they staying the other 3 nights, are they now living permanently at the dec'd parents house.

Assuming the parents paid full council tax, there won't be any additional charge for another adult living with them. Council tax is paid per property, not per adult. A single adult gets a 25% discount.

Council tax is per property not per person. So as long as someone was paying the council tax (parents) then there is no extra to pay by your friend living there.
Your friend needs to contact the council, explain that it is just them living there now and take over paying it. They should also get a 25% discount for being a single person living there.

Did the last surviving parent get a 25% discount?

If not, then no extra charges are due.

Were they paying CTAX on their other accommodation though?

Sorry, I'm not sure what the problem is. Council Tax is paid on the property, not the number of people who live there (other than the reduction for a sole occupant).

Your friend needs to tell the council
that as from today they have moved in

They will get single persons discount

Any other discount depends on what they are earning

otherwise they better move out!

Was it friends main residence? If so, If parents received council tax discount then yes your friend should’ve informed them they were living there, same goes for if parents were renting and received housing benefit, friend should’ve informed them and HB would’ve been adjusted accordingly. Friend needs to speak to citizens advice for more detailed information. I don’t think carers allowance will/would’ve been a problem/changed by your friend being there.

If they are only living there 4 nights per week, then they are presumably paying council tax on another property, which is their main home.

The next step is that the estate will go through probate. I was in a similar situation and my local authority didn't charge me council tax on my mother's property until probate was granted, at which point I became the owner of the property. That meant that for a time I was paying two lots of council tax, because my mother's property was effectively a second home, so that's what your friend needs to watch out for. But they won't owe anything for the time spent living at the property while their parent(s) were alive and paying the bills.

My sympathies to your friend.

I too don't understand the issue? Where are they living the rest of the time? If the surviving parent wasn't claiming single person and 25% off, then no issue? or they were? Is that the question???

Where were they living for the other few days per week and did they pay council tax there?