Claiming Back Rent

[crspaul]

Hi all a bit of a strange one this i'll explain as best I can, My friend moved in with his partner 2 years ago his partner inherited the house after the death of her father (so she thought). last week the local council wrote to her claiming they own the property and she owes 15 years back rent, I looked online for him and it does indeed say the council own the property. in the 15 years shes been there she has paid council tax but no demand for rent was made nor any inspection of the property was made or repairs carried out. I should add his partner lived with her father prior to his death and thought he owned it. my questions are can they claim it all back or evict them, whats the position regarding the upkeep (its in a state of disrepair),how has this been allowed to happen for so long. Thanks Paul.

[FredPuli43]

Well the good (?!) news is that the council can't claim more than 6 years' worth, subject only to an exception about acknowledging the debt which can't logically or sensibly have occurred (someone would have said long ago if rent wasn't being paid).

[daffy654]

How did your friend come to think her dad owned the property? Did he tell her he did or did she just assume?
Why did she not realise upon his death that this wasn't the case (reading of the will etc.)? and where did she think the property title/deeds were?

[Nibble]

I don't understand this at all. Who handled the estate of your friend's father? If she inherited it would have been in the Will, ownership would have to be proved. The council carry out checks to determine the state of the property if it's still a council house - which it seems they haven't done. It sounds very odd.

[ubasses]

Regarding the inheritance only, until recently children were allowed to inherit the tennancy on a council property. Maybe Dad was referring to her inheriting the tennancy without explaining it properly and she has made an assumption to ownership of the property.

[crspaul]

Hi my friend has known his partner 3 years she lived in the house 12 years alone before that, I am unsure what her father said to her but I understand she did believe he owned the property. I'm still confused as to why the council left it 15 years to contact her it seems very odd to me, they have an appointment with the council this week just wanted some info for him to take to them thanks Paul

[factor-fiction]

Were the council tax bills in the partner's name or were they still in the dad's name.
If it was the partner's name then I assume the council knew the father had died and that someone else was living there, so it seems odd they didn't ask for rent.
If the council had been asking for rent then the amount can't be written off just because it's more than 6 years old. However it would seem odd that they'd leave it 15 years before taking firm action.
I'm puzzled though as to what happened when he died- who did the probate and did they look at whether it included the property? Did your friend's partner not wonder why legal documents relating to the house were not produced and put into her name.

I find all this very difficult to follow and wonder whether the story has been distorted in translation or whether there is more to this than meets the eye.

Anyway a simple call to the council could clarify how the situation has been left unresolved for all this time

[Sharingan]

Who dealt with the probate work? If your friend's partner inherited the house then there must either have been a will saying so or he died intestate and she was his only heir. In either case because a house is involved and the value of that someone must have been awarded probate ( I think), if so it should have immediately become apparent that the council owned it.

[factor-fiction]

I wish I'd had your grasp of issues like this when I was 15, sharingan- my only interests were music and doing my homework/revision. I can see you as a barrister in ten years time

[Sharingan]

It's my second choice (or politics) if the acting goes belly up :)

[society]

Factor, as I read Sharin's reply the same thing went through my mind.
Young lady, I'm well impressed with you. x :)

[Sparkles62]

I said pretty much the same thing yesterday, Sharingan has a lovely nature, and an old head on young shoulders, i enjoy her posts. X

[hc4361]

daffy, no property or title deeds these days for the majority of homes - just an entry on the record at the Land Registry.

[society]

Don't people do title search when purchasing a property?

[hc4361]

Yes, society, but nobody has bought this property.

[Eve]

Records need to be traced back.

Did she deal with her father's estate? Either by obtaining probate or letters of administration (if he did not make a valid will and died intestate?).

If not, does she know who dealt with his estate, possibly a solicitor who held any will be had drawn up or another relative (as unknown if there are other siblings).

If she can find out who dealt with the estate and whether any property was involved that is a start. If she does not know then she could apply for a copy information:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/probate/copies-of-grants-wills

That is the best place to start, see if there is any proof of ownership anywhere in case any transfer, assent etc... has been missed, nit highly likely, however, it's possible, especially if the local authority has not been keeping a tight control on its housing stock (hence the rent demand after all this time).

Another possible thought I had is whether they specified what kind of rent. Is it definitely tenancy related? Is there any change it could relate to anything like ground rent (for example if the property is a leasehold property under a lease to which the Council is the landlord)? Have they given any figures?

[sandyRoe]

After so long have the council not lost title to the house? Seems that happened in this case.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-53579/Squatter-owner-100-000-flat.html