Council Tax Banding/House Price

Mike11_2

Hi,

I am wondering if someone could give me a bit more information on whether to go ahead with asking to have the band changed on my GF's parents house.

Basically, following the guide it show's the neighbours house is the same band at the moment, however, her mum still has the original bill of sale from when she bought it which was around 1991 and it was £39'995 which is obviously under the magic £40'000 'A' bracket.

Following the guide it advises not to persue it as the neighbours is in the same bracket but that goes about 'working out' the value of the property back then, as she has the receipt I thought I would ask if it would improve the chances of having it reduced from a B to and A?

Advice please,

Thanks,
Mike

Davesnave

'Tax Cutting' is the board you want for this.

vivatifosi

Hi Mike,

I'm one of the people who answer questions over on the CT board, so to save me getting my virtual hat and coat and trudging over there, I'll answer your question here. As you have a 1991 receipt and the sale was so close to the band value, then it depends on when the house was sold.

House prices were falling throughout 1991 and the date from which valuations are set is the 1st April 1991. Therefore you have a better chance of a reclaim if the sale's completion was prior to 1st April, than later in the year.

However, if the house was a new house, then incentives should not be priced in. So the price of any carpets, white goods, fees paid etc can also be taken off.

Another thing worth knowing whether the house was new or not is that if you have a garage that is not within the boundary of the house then that should also be removed from the value of the property. That can also help push the price down if it was bought later in the year.

Good luck!

playallday

Hi

I don't know if this is the right thread for my query, so I'm sorry if it's not.

I have successfully had my council tax band lowered and received a rebate..thanks to the site.

I live in the SW where water rates are very high. Until I had a meter installed last year (my bill dropped to 40% of what I had been paying!), water rates were levied on the value of the property. My query is this...do SWWA take their valuation from the council tax banding and if they do, do I have the right to reclaim overpayment from them?

I'd be grateful for information on this point.

Thanks

vivatifosi

Hi playallday,

My understanding is that water rates are still based on the rateable value of the property, not the Council Tax value, so in that respect, probably not. That is a question for the Tax board though because it's not an area I know particularly well.

Brennygran

This site is brilliant. I am currently challenging my council tax. I requested dwelling house codes under the Freedom of Information Act but the reply is "this information is exempt from disclosure under section 44 of the FOIA. Section 44(1)(a) exempts information from disclosure if its disclosure is prohibited by any enactment. The relevant enactment for the VOA is Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005. Section 18(1) CRCA provides that HMRC officials may not disclose information which is held in connection with a function of HMRC"
Sorry that's so long-winded. Has anyone any comments on the above or other ways I can get dwelling house codes? Many, many thanks.

vivatifosi

Well, that'll teach me for not getting my coat and hat...

You could try writing to the Information Commissioner regarding this. It has always been the case prior to 2000 that information could not be released due to the above, however at the back end of last year, one of the house price search engines (Our Property) did a deal with the Land Registry that gives data back to 1995 and kind of blows the FOI assertion out of the water. Data isn't available back to 1991, which is what you want, however I'm told by those who work in this area that is because the data isn't all held electronically, rather than due to FOI.

This is the next great boundary to be pushed back in terms of CT refunds, so you could be a pioneer if that takes your fancy!

lincroft1710

What do you want the codes for? They weren't that accurately applied for 1993 English Council Tax, and were not always important in determining bands. Since then some have changed, so the code currently attached to your home might not be the original one.

vivatifosi

Good spot Lincroft, I didn't read the post through thoroughly and thought they were looking for prices not codes, though I'd still press the issue through the Information Commissioner, but hey, you know I like a fight when it comes to CT!

Mike11_2

vivatifosi wrote: »

Hi Mike,

I'm one of the people who answer questions over on the CT board, so to save me getting my virtual hat and coat and trudging over there, I'll answer your question here. As you have a 1991 receipt and the sale was so close to the band value, then it depends on when the house was sold.

House prices were falling throughout 1991 and the date from which valuations are set is the 1st April 1991. Therefore you have a better chance of a reclaim if the sale's completion was prior to 1st April, than later in the year.

However, if the house was a new house, then incentives should not be priced in. So the price of any carpets, white goods, fees paid etc can also be taken off.

Another thing worth knowing whether the house was new or not is that if you have a garage that is not within the boundary of the house then that should also be removed from the value of the property. That can also help push the price down if it was bought later in the year.

Good luck!

Hiya, thanks for the reply. Sorry I haven't been on here sooner. I have just been speaking to my GF's mum and the exact date was 13th January 1994.

The house wasn't a new house when bought and she still lives in it now so it hasn't been sold since obviously.

I am probably wrong here but surely the prices didn't drop after 1991 so that would have meant it would be worth less before she bought it, if you get what I mean.

I hope you understand what I mean, ha.

vivatifosi

Unfortunately Mike, in pretty much every area of the country prices fell from 1991 to 1994, so there's unlikely to be a case. On average, prices did not get back to 1991 levels until 1996, although some areas of the country did recover sooner and some later. As the house sale was so early in 1994, it is extremely unlikely that the house prices will have recovered to 1991 levels, but you may want to check prices local to where you live to make sure (you can do this by going back through local papers or asking estate agents that have been around for a long time).