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Liability for CT transferred to carer when tenant went into a hospice
cl was co-parenting their son but lived in a separate property to the mother and claimed benefits as a single person
Mother became ill during the Summer 2022 and cl moved in to care for mum and one year old son
Cl did not claim CA
Social Housing tenancy was in the mother’s sole name as was CT bill and CTS
Mother was admitted to hospital 19/1/23 and discharged on the 16/2/23. They were then moved to a hospice on the 8/3/23 and died on the 14/3/23
Cl continues to live in the property and is now the sole carer for the son.
Cl received a CT bill, in their name, from 19/1/23 to 31/3/23. Court fees of £115 have also now been added.
We are currently challenging liability for the bill. Seems like CT will relent and move the liability date to when the mother moved into a hospice.
I know there is only 6 days difference between the hospice date and when the mother died, but feels very cruel. Are these the rules and is the cl liable from the 8/3/23? is there no discretionary period when CT is not charged after someone dies?
Has the mother’s tenancy been transferred to the daughter? Surely that should be the date that the daughter would become liable for CT (assuming when you say she moved in, that she gave up her own separate tenancy for where she had been living?)
liability to pay CT is different to liability to pay rent tho isn’t it? Tenancy has not been transferred to the father of the son, yet, they have requested succession but has not been granted as yet as they had not lived in the property for 12mths prior. we are supporting to appeal that.
Cl was living with their mum prior to moving into look after their son so no tenancy was ‘given up’
The dwelling would have been exempt from Council Tax while the previous resident was in the hospice if there had been no other residents aged 18+ remaining in the dwelling. I cannot see any exemption Class that applies where the original liable resident has permanently ceased to reside in the dwelling while receiving end of life care, but another person is resident. It looks as if liability commences from the point at which the original resident permanently moved.
The options to dispute this are:
- a discretionary reduction, which can be applied to any council tax account for any reason at the Council’s discretion under s13A(1)(c) of the LGFA 1992
- an argument around when the previous resident permanently moved out: what their intentions and expectations were at that time.
liability to pay CT is different to liability to pay rent tho isn’t it? Tenancy has not been transferred to the father of the son, yet, they have requested succession but has not been granted as yet as they had not lived in the property for 12mths prior. we are supporting to appeal that.
Cl was living with their mum prior to moving into look after their son so no tenancy was ‘given up’
Sorry for being confused but you said:
cl was co-parenting their son but lived in a separate property to the mother and claimed benefits as a single person
Mother became ill during the Summer 2022 and cl moved in to care for mum and one year old son
So it looked as if your client (son not daughter as I wrongly assumed) was living elsewhere - the reason why that could have been important is, that you are usually liable for CT if you are ‘resident’ in a dwelling and it is your sole or main residence and you can only be resident in one dwelling at a time.
I agree with HB Anorak about the father’s potential CT liability - as soon as the property ceased to be the sole or main residence of the mother, he will have become liable as the next person on the hierarchical list at s6(2) LGFA 1992.
Straying from benefits, I can’t see how the father could succeed to the tenancy on these facts so it’s likely to be a grant of a new tenancy if they let him have it. But as an alternative and depending on the tenancy it may be worth looking at whether the son can succeed himself through a trustee?