Council Tax rebranding for Housing Association houses

lincroft1710

CT band cannot be increased on account of extension where carried out by present owner, sale has to occur before this can happen. The old fashioned way of measuring extensions is more accurate than aerial/satellite filming

Former colleagues at VOA have plenty to do, there's a revaluation of commercial properties coming into force next April.

John_Pierpoint

I'm proposing a general revaluation for the whole country, by a government desperate for more tax revenue. I seem to remember last time there was a huge fuss about drive-by valuations. At least having a nosey look at satellite pictures would give a pretty accurate measure of the sq meters involved, even if you cannot spot the gold bath taps and granite work tops.

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Former colleagues at VOA have plenty to do, there's a revaluation of commercial properties coming into force next April.

Good luck on the commercial revaluation front.
That, in present market conditions, should keep the lawyers in a job.
Valuation is an art not a science and I would expect a fair amount of commercial property, by next year to be unmarketable with its roof pulled off.

Or does that dodge not work any more?

lincroft1710

Constructive vandalism (removing roof, toilets) hasn't worked for long time. Lawyers rarely get involved in commercial rating or council tax, it is usually reputable chartered surveyors or lesser qualified "agents" (cowboys).

Gold bath taps and granite work tops will have virtually no effect on a dwelling's CT band. "Drive by valuations" was a media scare, those involved in original CT banding exercise had full details of nearly all dwellings from VOA records. You cannot accurately measure from satellite images, which seem to be out of date anyway.

Govt. was proceeding with a CT revaluation in 2005 (due to happen in 2007) but cancelled it, hence my early retirement from VOA. They would have to spend money on extra staff and associated costs even if only on short term contracts, and central govt doesn't get money from council tax, local govt does.

John_Pierpoint

Yes but as every council in the country gets a top up from central government, more council tax equals less top up from a deficit spending quantitative easing government.

We will have to agree to disagree about the accuracy and availability of overhead imagery, if its good enough to give away 30 GBP per week per UK family to often all ready rich rural landowners, it is probably good enough to highlight all those permitted development extensions.

lincroft1710

VOA measure property to nearest lineal centimetre, I don't believe aerial/satellite imagery is that accurate. In all probability 50% or more of these permitted development extensions would not increase the dwelling's band, more especially in higher bands.

Although I would agree we desperately need a revaluation, now is perhaps not the best time. But it has to be done properly, by physical measurement of property where necessary and time taken over the actual valuation.

John_Pierpoint

In all probability, measuring to the nearest lineal 200mm rather than to the nearest lineal 10mm would not increase the dwelling's band, more especially in higher bands ?

But I do agree, that there are times when there is no substitute for making a site visit.

(In the days when County Councils had not yet outsourced their new road projects; including a noise fence and double glazing for an old sectional concreted double garage, did nothing for the credibility of the rest of the proposal. Buildings all look like little boxes from the air ).

lincroft1710

I'll rephrase and expand on previous post.

1) VOA measure to nearest linear (I mistyped on previous post) cm, in order to get size as accurate as possible, 20cm tolerance would not be acceptable.

2) Small extensions to dweliings which are at low to mid point of bands would most probably not lead to a higher band. If you have a dwelling in England worth £125K in 91 and in Band F, you can have good size extension before it becomes a Band G (£160K plus). With a Band G dwelling worth £180K, you could almost double its size before it became a Band H (£320K).

Three other points.

A long time is going to be spent viewing satellite images, comparing with digital mapping to get dwellings' addresses, then comparing with VOA records.

One thing you can't get from satellite image is how extension affects existing layout and I've come across quite a few extensions where I've thought extension has probably reduced house's value because of how it's messed up existing layout.

The percentage of extensions which VOA are unaware of is relatively small, especially those which are of a significant size. VOA is aware of dwellings where extensions carried out in recent years but are awaiting a sale before possible band increase.