Law of Property Act 1925

16 Liability for death duties.

(1) A personal representative shall be accountable for all death duties which may become leviable or payable on the death of the deceased in respect of land (including nettled land) which devolves upon him by virtue of any statute or otherwise.

(2) In every other case the estate owner (other than a purchaser who acquires a legal estate after the charge for death duties has attached and free from such charge), shall be accountable for all the duties aforesaid which become leviable or payable in respect of his estate in the land or any interest therein capable of being overreached by his conveyance, being a conveyance to a purchaser made under the Settled Land Act, 1925, or pursuant to a trust for sale.

(3) For the purpose of raising the duty, and the costs of raising the same, the personal representative or other person accountable as aforesaid shall have all the powers which are by any statute conferred for raising the duty.

(4) Nothing in this Act shall alter any duty payable in respect of land, or impose any new duty thereon, or affect the remedies of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue against any person other than a purchaser or a person deriving title under him.

(5) Notwithstanding that any duties are by this section made payable by the personal representative or other person aforesaid, nothing in this Part of this Act shall affect the liability of the persons beneficially interested or their respective interests in respect of any duty and they shall accordingly account for or repay the same and any interest and costs attributable thereto to the said Commissioners or to the personal representative or other person accountable as aforesaid, as the case may require.

(6) Nothing in this Part of this Act shall impose on a personal representative, tenant for life, statutory owner, trustee for sale, or other person in a fiduciary position, as such, any liability for payment of duty, in excess of the assets (including land) vested in him or in the trustees of the settlement which may for the time being be available in his hands or in the hands of such trustees for the payment of the duty or which would have been so available but for his or their own neglect or default or impose a charge for duties on leasehold land, or render a mortgagee liable in respect of any charge for duties which is not paramount to his mortgage.

(7) The said Commissioners, on being satisfied that a personal representative or other person accountable has paid or commuted or will pay or commute all death duties for which he is accountable in respect of the land or any part thereof, shall, if required by him, give a certificate to that effect, which shall discharge from any further claim for such duty the land to which the certificate extends, and the production of such certificate to the land registrar or other proper officer shall be a sufficient authority to enable him to cancel any land charge registered in respect of the duty so far as it affects the land to which the certificate extends.