Imbecile wrote:
"Kristen" wrote:

This relative is about 70 years old. I presume "ground rent" is the
Welsh term for Council Tax as it's dictionary meaning sounds about
right.
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No, they are different, ground rent is what it says, payment to the person
who owns the land for the use of the land. This has to be paid when the
property is leasehold - the owner of the building doesn't own the land on
which the building stands and therefore has to rent/lease the land from the
person who owns it.

Council tax (properly called community charge) is payment to the district
council to partly pay for local government services. These services include
police, fire, recycling, refuse collection and removal, schools, leisure
centres, park and ride schemes, parks and open spaces, street cleaning,
subsidising of public transport, tourism, museums, social housing grants,
housing and council tax benefits, environmental health and food safety in
pubs, restaurants and shops, planning services, support for voluntary
groups, meals on wheels, facilities for young people, adapting homes for
disabled people, play centres for children, CCTV installation, sports
facilities, issuing taxi licences, flood defences, and many others. The tax
bears no resemblance to the degree of use of these services, it relates to
the value of the property.



Thanks for your advice.

I wonder if it is wise for a 70 year-old to take on a large garden, unless
of course she is very fit and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future
and there is financial capacity to buy-in help with gardening as and when it
is required.

I just want this relative to find something useful to keep her active
and occupy the mind. It is very easy for the elderly to settle into a
sedentary routine and waste away.

Good luck, this sounds like a nightmare to me.

You have no idea! Yesterday I endured 18 hours of shouting and
backstabbing venom from all sides. I just sat there quietly - if I
told them I didn't want to hear it anymore my newfound life role as a
family therapist would be gone and they would take it out even harder
on each other. At one stage I thought I would have to call an
ambulance.

Kristen