Council Tax increase

sabelu · 19 March 2005 at 9:34AM

Fourteen years ago I moved into a Band E property 4 bed double garage its now 5 bed single garage + conserv. Will my band go up due proportionally more than others on my estate of the original spec ?

Murtle · 20 March 2005 at 5:49PM

I could be wrong, but it's only when they revalue the property - in my area, Reading, we are banded as per house value of 1991!!!! Still went up 4.5% though!!! The bands were fairly wide, so all the house could fit into the same banding I guess....

HTH a little!!!

isasmurf · 20 March 2005 at 8:01PM

Council Tax bands are based on the open market value of your property in 1991. The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) are about to commence on a revaluation of all properties in England. This revaluation value will come into effect from 2007 for England, and will be based on the open market value of properties on 1st April 2005.
A revaluation exercise in Wales has already been carried out and they will see their new bands on this years Bills. In Wales the valuation date is 1st April 2003.

dunstonh · 20 March 2005 at 8:13PM

And God help us with the increases that will no doubt follow.

isasmurf · 20 March 2005 at 8:35PM

I've just found a comprehensive guide to Council Tax valuations on the VOA website. It even includes a database where you can search for any address in England and Wales to see it's Council Tax Band history. Very useful if you're moving house. http://www.voa.gov.uk/council_tax/

Anyway, according to the VOA.

Improvements, such as modernisation and extension, can increase the capital value of domestic property so that a higher council tax band could be justified. However when council tax was introduced in 1993 it was decided that the council tax band on an improved dwelling would not be increased until there was a change of ownership.

This decision was taken to ensure that owners are not dissuaded from improving their property.

I didn't know that a property could be revalued if there was a change of ownership.

jockettuk · 20 March 2005 at 9:22PM

im in a band b as in 1991 our house was a run down house in lots of updating and modernisation.. this we did over many many yrs and now we have a decent house with a extension.. the next door to us was in similar condition and when it was sold 5 yrs ago they went up from band b to band d. so if i sell my house it will probably go up 2 bands as well which is a lot of money on top of a morgage..

bridiej · 22 March 2005 at 5:46PM

How does that work legally? Normally you're asked what band you're in so if you sell in band B then the property is revalued the person could be payiing band D - can they hold you accountable for not telling them this or can you just say you didnt know?

Just a thought........

Gambler · 2 April 2005 at 8:20AM

I live in Wales and have just received my new council tax bill. We are in Band E under both the old and new evaluation.

A few things annoy me about paying council tax.

We only moved into our house last year and the Band E valuation was as at 1991. However the house was only built in 1999 so they used the purchase price as at then. Do I have room for appeal, bearing in mind that tax year is finished?

Also we do our fair share of recycling yet feel we are being penailised for eating healthily. We very rarely eat any tinned foods and find that our bin is always overflowing. As the council only collect general waste every 2 weeks we have to make constant trips to the dump.

Stinks the car out and will be much worse in the summer.
Wouldn't mind paying so much if we had a decent level of service.

Elaine_Wilson · 4 April 2005 at 1:21PM

Gambler wrote:

I
We only moved into our house last year and the Band E valuation was as at 1991. However the house was only built in 1999 so they used the purchase price as at then. Do I have room for appeal, bearing in mind that tax year is finished?

In England I think you can have any change on an appeal backdated for six years, so assume you you would be able to in Wales.

Are you sure that they used the 1999 value in setting your banding? Where houses are built after 1991 they should still have used the 1991 value, estimating this from similar houses in the area.

Elaine

Rafter · 4 April 2005 at 3:02PM

I believe that the majority of houses won't change bandings, but houses in the south east and 'boom' areas will.

Also that internal inspection won't be carried out so any revaluation of an existing property that hasn't sold since 199x will get the general increase for the area not one specific to the property with extra bedroom and garage etc.

Given that most of the council tax goes on education and social housing, it does rather suggest that maybe the lib dems have a point and paying more through income tax would be 'fairer' on pensioners?

I'd rather pay 25% basic rate income tax and a low or standard local charge for waste collection and truly property based local services.

It also seems truly wasteful that thousands of council department finance teams and local politicians spend months setting budgets and collecting tax when really it should all be done centrally.

In North America local sales taxes seem to cover local bills which is another way but not sure that is as fair since those on low incomes end up paying a disproportionate amount of tax.

R.

ZANYSAM · 9 February 2007 at 7:14PM

Does anyone know if you can claim for houses you no longer own?

Sam

Council Tax increase

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