Council Tax Appeal question?!

phatwa
phatwa Posts: 44 Forumite
Hi all, I am in the process of appealing my council tax banding and have been given a court date at the end of August. I am still not fully sure if my would-be claim is valid or not; although I have swotted up on it over the past few months, I've been given mixed answers (and misdirection) from the local council about it. So I'm hoping someone here can clear it up for me.

I moved into my current home 6 months ago. The band is "G", which I believe to be excessive given that it's a 2 bedroom cottage. When the council applied the band, the property was my cottage + a large unconverted barn, and 2 acres. This barn has since been converted into its own dwelling in 1998, it's twice the size of my house and is also classed as band "G".

I have written to the council trying to explain this, but their representative wrote back saying the number of bedrooms has nothing to do with it - which I understand, but the point I am trying to make is that when it was 'valued' it was twice the size. How can a home halve in size effectively yet still retain the same rating? Odd. I have tried to explain this to the Council but they just write back saying I should appeal if I feel it's relevant.

The council representative in her letter then started mentioning sold house prices. Ultimately if you use the recent sold price for my property (from Jan 2017) and use the Nationwide historic house price calculator it places it on the very cusp of Band F/G, by a few £.

Is this worth pursuing at appeal?

Comments

  • lincroft1710
    lincroft1710 Posts: 17,510
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    When you say "council" I presume you mean the VOA, who deal with the banding process and are part of HMRC.

    Your cottage has not halved in size, the barn would have been valued as an outbuilding and probably represented less than 10% of the value of the property when it was originally valued for CT.
    If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales
  • phatwa
    phatwa Posts: 44 Forumite
    edited 10 July 2017 at 2:02PM
    Thank you for your concise reply, it is unfortunate the VOA couldn't be so clear with me.

    Is there any source for the ~10% claim as accepted wisdom or previous case law etc? I am not too convinced by the idea that a (now) 4 bedroom barn with 2 acres would be valued as being only 10% of the value of a property which is half the size. If my 2 bedroom cottage is valued at the average national price for a house (£250k) this means a 2500 sq ft barn with 2 acres would be worth only £25k....

    I was thinking conservatively 50% of the value or perhaps more, the barn is Grade II listed. Certainly at current values in my part of the SE, an unconverted barn would be a huge asset to have even without PP and would bump up the asking price of the property considerably as it could be sold on, converted etc.
  • lincroft1710
    lincroft1710 Posts: 17,510
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    CT has to value the property as it is and not how it could be. Therefore an unconverted barn without planning permission can only be valued as an outbuilding ancillary to a dwellinghouse and has to be valued at 1991 prices, which was then a declining market. Grade 2 listing actually makes the barn less valuable as it means any repairs or alterations have to be done in a certain way which isoften more costly.

    It is quite probable the 2 acres of land was overlooked or not known about.

    There is no case law on value. Some Valuation Tribunals may have accepted certain percentage reductions in prices over the years, but VT decisions are not case law per se. For example a Valuation Tribunal in Cornwall can determine the band of a National Builder "Badleybilt" at Band E, this cannot be used as a precedent for a "Badleybilt" in Kent.

    The 10% is an educated guess, from knowing how the original CT valuations were carried and having to deal with many subsequent CT appeals.
    If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales
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