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Original poster

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

106 replies

FrenchandSaunders · 26/02/2025 17:21

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!

OP posts:
Soontobe60 · 27/02/2025 16:57

FrenchandSaunders · 27/02/2025 08:56

Thanks all. Interesting that this seems to be common knowledge! I do understand the housing crisis and it’s not a ‘woe is me’ tale as we are in a very fortunate position.

However if someone inherits a house and there isn’t also some cash then it can be difficult to run two homes and two sets of bills for a period of time.

Probate took 6 months. The property went up for sale shortly after this and we had a buyer within a few days. She pulled out at the end of Jan due to problems that showed up in her survey.

DH is now doing that work before it goes back up for sale. So we’re not doing it up to make more money, just the essentials so we don’t waste another 6 months when somebody else has a survey.

But surely it made more sense to relist it at a reduced price taking into account the issue?

Soontobe60 · 27/02/2025 17:00

allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld · 27/02/2025 11:05

@FrenchandSaunders kid you not, one of my tenants died! the council sent me a bill for council tax from that date!! obviously I refused to pay. half the relatives and friends had still not been informed at that point and obviously the relatives of the deceased had not managed to empty his flat overnight. sometimes, council can be hard hearted shits!

Why did you refuse to pay? You’re presumably the landlord therefore liable to CT? I don’t understand your anger.

Soontobe60 · 27/02/2025 17:02

jay55 · 27/02/2025 12:18

But if all that is in the estate is the house, the bills still have to be paid in the meantime,

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I didn’t need to pay any utility bills on my DMs house when she died - the energy providers were happy to wait until the estate was settled and the house sold then I paid the final bills from the house sale.

RawBloomers · 27/02/2025 17:02

IfWeWereVampires · 27/02/2025 13:11

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.

Show quote history

I haven’t bought a house in the uk that hasn’t taken months even after the offer was accepted. And that’s without anyone pulling out or finding problems after a survey or a chain breaking. The customary process for buying houses in the UK is absolutely crazy.

Honeyroar · 27/02/2025 17:14

An estate agent valuing ours last week said about 35% of sales fall through nowadays. More so on ones that need work doing.

Abra1t · 27/02/2025 17:57

ohtowinthelottery · 27/02/2025 16:17

@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.

It’s such a pain, isn’t it! And really adds on more time to the selling process.

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