My dad died months ago, so why must he still pay council tax?
ANGUISH: Now the MoS revealed the councils’ harsh tactics last week guidance and that residents could ‘apply to a hardship fund’ – resulting in a possible bill reduction.
Denny Broadwell, 69, thought that she had found an effective solution to fund her mother’ s care fees when she moved into a residential home nearly four years ago.
But she had no idea that this would later make her liable for council tax on her mother’s house.
Her mother, Stella Peters, moved into a care home in November 2016 and her bungalow in Christchurch, Dorset, was let to tenants to help pay the fees. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council also had a ‘charge’ against the property to subsidise the care fees.
Stella died aged 92 in October last year and the tenants moved out the following month so it could be sold. But bad news followed as the local authority said council tax would be levied until the house was sold.
Denny says: ‘We were told by the council that if Mum had died while living in the property we would have had a six-month grace period before council tax was charged again. But because she was in a care home and it had been rented out we would have to pay council tax straight away.
‘Surely, if a parent passes away and leaves a property to be sold, council tax should either be stopped or reduced until the property is disposed of?’
Stella’s home was finally sold in May, but Denny, who also lives in Christchurch, says a reprieve would have been helpful especially given the £84,100 charge on the home in lieu of care fees.
Last week, the council said it understood the ‘difficulties’ some people had experienced in selling unoccupied properties, but it was following government guidelines.
Although Rosemary Lovell, 74, lives in Eastbourne, East Sussex, she is being held responsible for a £1,800-a-year council tax bill on a two-bedroom bungalow more than 300 miles away in Cornwall.
This is because she is a named beneficiary with her two sisters in the will of her uncle, Terence Smithers, who died aged 86 in October last year.
Rosemary was aware that there is usually a six- month council tax exemption after probate is granted. But she says the council gave only a one-month exemption, adding: