council tax rebanding: house next door is one band lower than ours ...

pinksprout

We live in a cul de sac of 31 detached 'individual' properties. 16 houses (including ours) are band G, 14 houses are band F and 1 is band E.

I have done the usual checks on the value of our house at the time of the banding assessment in 1991 and, disappointingly, it does seem to be in the right band. However, I was very suprised to find that the house next door to ours is banded F and it is pretty much identical in size to ours inside and out (including plot size). Obviously I have no wish to upset the apple cart for my neighbours (and risk their property being rebanded to G) but is there any mileage in challenging the banding of our home solely on the basis that the comparable house next door is a band lower? I presume not, but I just thought I would pose the question anyway. I suppose, for that matter, it's not the 'right' thing to do morally either :embarasse

lincroft1710

The answer is..... you won't know unless you ask for a rebanding. As it's not the same house type as yours it could be smaller, which could be enough to put it into lower band. Or it could be in wrong band, or band may have been reduced which (if you're in Eng/Wales) you can check on Valuation Office Agency website.

The ball is in your court, morals have nothing to do with it, you're trying to ensure your band is correct, not to imply neighbour's band is wrong. If it turns out their's is wrong it's not your fault, if it is right then no harm done.

pinksprout

Thanks for your reply lincroft. I have been in my neighbour's house so I know that the square footage is pretty similar. The only real difference is that we have an ensuite bathroom and they don't. I think they were just lucky when the houses were assessed. There are bound to be anomalies given the haphazard way properties were banded in the first place.

lincroft1710

En suite could easily put yours into higher band, value could be bottom end of G, whereas neighbour could be very top end of F.

pinksprout

We should have stuck with a larger bedroom and one less loo to clean I guess :rolleyes: ... anyway I thought (according to Martin) that the bandings were supposedly assessed on a drive-by 'external' viewing.

Thanks again for your reply.

lincroft1710

VOA has full details on nearly every dwelling in Eng/Wales, size, no of beds, baths, if there's garage, conservatory. Drive-by valuations are a media scare.