A MAN whose father died without a will has been told that he cannot receive his father’s council tax refund without paying £255 for a document.

Tim Linington has said “shame on BCP Council” after the authority refused to pay his late father’s tax refund unless he produced a Letter of Administration, which costs £255, to recognise Mr Linington as his father’s next of kin.

Great-grandfather Graham Linington passed away in July after a battle with cancer. His eldest son, Tim, says that despite his father not having a will, the deployment of his estate had been straightforward until dealing with BCP Council.

He told the Daily Echo: “Since my father passed away, I’ve been dealing with various banks, HMRC, Dorset Council and others to sort out his estate. As his eldest son, all of these bodies have been satisfied with standard ID as confirmation that I am his next of kin.

“There is a credit balance refund that was due to him of £61.82 for rent overpayment, which BCP Council are refusing to forward to me unless I produce a Letter of Administration.

“I should make it clear that I don’t need or want the money, this is a matter of principle. I think that it’s shameful and unreasonable to withhold such an amount from my late father's estate for the production of a £255 letter.

“I’ll be damned if I let the council spend my father’s money.”

A Bournemouth resident for more than 20 years, Royal Navy veteran Graham Linington previously worked for Dorset Council as a minibus driver for the elderly.

Regarding deceased tenants, council policy says that “a refund may be made to a next of kin/representative on production of letters of administration or probate".

However, it also states: “The council accepts that no two cases are the same and allows its Housing Charges Officer a degree of flexibility when applying the policy to ensure that cases are dealt with sympathetically and individual circumstances are taken into consideration.”

Mr Linington believes that his case has not been dealt with sympathetically and says that the whole argument against the refund has been contradicted by an “eye-opening” recent council payment.

He said: “In between my initial complaint and their reply I received a £5.10 council tax refund from the benefits department, which surely contravenes their rent policy. No copies of any form of ID or Letter of Administration were demanded. Different department, different policy, same council, I find that very strange.”

“I doubt I am the first this has happened to, but I do want to be the last.”

A BCP Council spokesperson said: “We can confirm that BCP Council have received a formal complaint from Mr Linington on this matter and we are currently looking into this. A response will be sent to him in due course.”