A grieving son has accused a council of being “heavy-handed” after threatening to take him to court over his late mother’s home.

Neil Bayles inherited mum Molly’s house in King Street, Maldon, after she died in August, aged 92.

But he claims he has had to pay more in council tax than his mother did – despite no-one living at the property.

Mr Bayles said: “Maldon District Council billed me for £210 based on two people living there.

“I advised them that no-one was living there as the house is empty and was on the market to be sold. But they said it was their policy to charge based on two people.

“I had to agree by signing a letter that when the house was sold, I would pay the council tax owed.

“The house was sold, and I advised them by email the monies were to be paid on January 20, only to receive a letter of final notice that if it was not paid within seven days I would be taken to court.”

He added: “They are actually getting more money now my mum has passed away than when she was alive.

“There’s no compassion at all, they could not wait for her last breath as she passed away at 8pm on the August 6, 2019 and they billed me the same day.”

Mr Bayles told the council he would pay the remaining council tax on January 20, as soon as the house sale was confirmed.

He said: “They agreed that I could write a letter confirming I could pay them on completion of the property.

“But to go and send out a summons – it’s just one thing after another.

“It wasn’t handled correctly. There’s no compassion – it’s just being greedy and heavy-handed.

“People should be warned that if anyone passes away the family are going to have to cough up for the council tax.

“I’m lucky the house got sold quite quickly.

“It’s not nice to get letters that are a bit on the threatening side. There’s no need for it.”

But the district council says its hands are tied.

Resources committee chairman Bryan Harker said: “Maldon District Council is required by law to bill and collect the full amount of council tax due.

“The council works closely with customers and aims to provide high levels of customer service. We are unable to comment on individual circumstances however, we apologise if the customer feels we have fallen short of this when dealing with their council tax account or any enquiry they have raised with us.”

He added: “When a customer lets us know that they are having difficulty in paying we will work with them to agree a mutually acceptable repayment plan in order to avoid recovery action.

“We would urge any customer who is dissatisfied with our services to refer to our website where information about how to make a comment or complaint can be found.”