MILs empty property - now have to pay 200% council tax on it!

[FrenchandSaunders]

Has anyone experienced this? MIL died just over a year go. We are doing it up with a plan to sell it and had a council tax reprieve for 6 months. We now have a bill for double the yearly amount and a quick look at the council website confirms that. Sounds so odd!

Is this work that your DH is well able to do and has the time for? Or does he work full time and is trying to fit this in around everything else? It's a combination that frequently falls down.

For some work you will also need to be able to produce the proper certification and paperwork, which might not be possible if you aren't qualified for it.

As you are finding, running out of time or being too slow on projects like this can turn very costly, as we too have learned from experience on a couple of rental properties we own. My DH used to insist that he was going to get these things done himself and save money.

The problem was always that my DH is not a practical man and progress, if any at all, was painfully slow. It cost us loads because he wasn't able to do the work, wouldn't admit his limitations and inexperience, and what was done wasn't of the right standard. So the properties sat empty and no money coming in (whilst other payments were going out). Eventually I put my foot down and absolutely insisted that we got professionals in. Expensive at the time, but the property was ready very quickly after that and began paying for itself. DH is now fully on board with paying professionals for major work, though is still uncomfortable admitting that he just cannot build/rebuild an entire house fast and single handed. 🙄

Do you need to pay people to do the work and just get it done so that the property will sell at the next attempt?

The house is still taking up the space in an area serviced by the LA and can get back to using the services at any moment, so the services have to be available.

but simply want to sell and have wanted to sell for months and months

Why isnt it selling? Is it because you want a higher price than its worth, or you want to get work done first to get a better price?

A house that is priced right will sell and doesnt take months and months.

Yep. Years ago we brought out home it had been empty for a couple of years and we were charged 200% even though we'd only just got the keys. We ended up putting a mattress upstairs and I told the council we had moved in whilst doing the work. I then had a message a week later to say they'd checked the property and no one was living there. I told them if they come to the property during working hours there wouldn't be anyone there as we were both at work FT but they were welcome to arrange to come on an evening or weekend. Never heard anything again and the council tax dropped back to the original rate. We had moved in around 6 weeks after getting the keys though so it wasn't something we had to keep lying about.

Wow some people on here take the biscuit. 1) some people take longer than others to grieve and process etc. The child of the deceased could really be going through a rubbish time 2) probate can take AGES let’s be frank the bureaucracy in this country is a nightmare to deal with. Deathmin as I call it takes a long time! 3) the house could be in such a state it would never sell, it might not reach building standards these days, might need extra fire exits etc putting in and all sorts! But yes after a certain time they will charge CT and I understand the reasoning but situations vary and it won’t hurt to be kind and just explain to the OP why it is so without being rude

@IfWeWereVampires We are waiting for our buyer to complete his complicated transaction on his existing home, involving a transfer of equity. I, the EA agent and my lawyer have been chasing him to exchange. He has not been transparent about progress.

The previous buyer pulled out just before Christmas because he found somewhere else he preferred.

The person who offered in October wanted a reduction following the Budget changes to CGT on second homes that we could not accept.

I check our price against the market regularly and it seems lower than average for the type of house in the particular street in sw London.

As others have said its normal, but also because of capital gains. If you don't sell and it increases in value they will want extra tax on it for the % it increases on top of IHT.

If you just read the first post in isolation, it sounds like you’re trying to flip the house and make some money. Which will attract little sympathy.
But having read your later updates, you’ve not done anything most people wouldn’t, and probate can take ages. Are there any discounts available locally for inhabitable properties? If not, you’ll sadly have to take the hit - which - most people would also be irritated by given the circumstances.
That said, everything sells for the right price.

Can easily take a year or more. Because of litigation launched by my brother to prevent the application for Letters of Administration, a year has passed with no progress.

Probate can take a few weeks or several years, in my case it is the latter. The house cannot be sold until the grant is issued.

I suppose not many people realise this till they find out. It's to stop properties lying empty.

However it doesn't in many cases. I'd dearly love to be shot of my mum's estate but I am powerless to move things on

Presuming you're benefitting from the estate/sale of the house, we found the bank arranged authorised overdrafts when we were in a similar situation, knowing that they would be paid off when the house eventually sold. We didn't look on the money as ours until it was all done and dusted so it was still my late sister's money paying for the expenses of her house. It does motivate you though when you see it dripping away.

I doubt any contractors or shops will wait for payment until after the house has been sold 🫤

OP hasn't said whether the house is still in probate and part of MIL's estate waiting to be distributed. Or has the will been executed and the house now belongs to OP/husband?

This makes a big difference to the response I think.

The house belongs to us, probate has been received and we are the only beneficiaries. We can pay these bills as my MIL also left some money but I don’t know how people would manage if they inherited a house, no cash and were just about covering the bills on their own property.

Luckily DH is able to do the work but yes he is fitting this around his own job.

If the estate can't pay, then it can't pay. The council will wait until the house is sold and then claim the money when funds allow. The council "may" put a legal charge on the property to cover monies owing to them.

I don’t know how people would manage if they inherited a house, no cash and were just about covering the bills on their own property.

They'd sell it via auction or 'we buy any house' type places or they'd use it to secure a line of credit while they waited to sell it via traditional channels.

I struggle to find much sympathy for 'oh no we own a valuable asset by accident' victims tbh.

@Abra1t So true re current building regs expectations on work done years ago.
My parent's bungalow was built in the early 1960's. It's what estate agents called a 'chalet' bungalow. You could live quite happily downstairs - 2 bedrooms and a bathroom - but the original build included a bedroom upstairs in the roof. There were 5 bungalows in the street of this same design. In 1970's each one had a 2nd bedroom built in the roof space. When we came to sell, the executors insisted we advertised through 2 estate agents. On Rightmove, the bungalow appeared as a 4 bedroom with 1 agent and a 2 bedroom with the 2nd agent. I queried this with the executors (professional) who came back and advised that the stairs to the 2 'bedrooms' didn't meet building regs. Now I acknowledge that if you wanted to alter the stairs in any way then the new design would have to comply with current BR but the original staircase in situ absolutely did meet the regulations of It's time and to declare the upstairs rooms were not bedrooms was nothing short of ridiculous. Naturally, the listing was changed to reflect the 4 bedrooms after I'd questioned it.

In Highland Council a property is exempt from Council Tax if it still part of the estate. It's only when ownership transfers that Council Tax is payable.
I know a couple of people who have actually held up transferring the property in to their name until a sale was agreed.

This is incorrect. Properties left empty due to the death of the owner/occupier are exempt until the grant of probate or letters of administration, and councils can extend this by 6 months.

Properties left empty because the owner has moved into a care home are exempt. See:
How Council Tax works: Second homes and empty properties - GOV.UK

You cannot sell it until the grant of Probate has been issued and those routes you are suggesting are not necessarily maximising the value of the estate. The Executors have a legal duty to sell at the best price for the beneficiaries.

All the value of my mum's estate is in the property, she has 200 quid in the bank and cash debts of around 12k rising by 500 quid a month. My own legal fees are 11k with no immediate resolution to the situation due to actions of another.

I wish it were as simple as sell it to 'we buy any house.com'

That makes sense. The property is still in the in laws names. We don’t need to transfer to our names to sell it.

Irrelevant here as probate has been granted and that's the situation we are talking about.

Yes it's to stop people keeping empty homes.

You’re not paying IHT or CT, it comes out of the estate - which clearly must be pretty extensive, at least £375K, so you can hardly expect anyone to feel sorry for you!