My council tax is £1,853 (am cry!)

blizeH

Hi guys,

Just moved into a house that is rated at band E, meaning my council tax bill is a fairly substantial £1,853.

The house was valued at £235,000 - I entered that figure into the Nationwide house price calculator and it estimated the value back in 1991 to be £78,000 or so. Far below the £88k banding for category E.

Likewise the house was originally built in 1999, and valued at £108k. Again for me that wouldn't really tie in with the £88k banding in 1991.

Is there anything at all meaning it's not worth me having a to at getting the band reduced? I don't really understand this much beyond what I've just been reading through on this (fantastic!) site etc.

Thanks

whitewing

blizeH,

I can't help but similarly I think our house is a band higher than it should be. 1991 value as above seems to put it firmly in the middle of the band below. There is only 1 other house in our street that is the same band as us, but very different to ours, although I can't see why they are a band higher than their neighbours esp as they are a middle one of a row of 4.

I will therefore keep an eye on this thread too.

00ec25

blizeH wrote: »

Hi guys,

Just moved into a house that is rated at band E,
The house was valued at £235,000

by whom, and franky so what!
After moving into a property you have just purchased you are perfectly entitled to lodge an appeal with the Valuation Office Agency against your CT banding within 6 months of moving in (leave it any longer and you have no right of appeal).
The VOA tribunal will compare your property against the others in your immediate neighbourhood using their 1991 values. They will not compare it directly against the Nationwide index, which quite categorically says it reports the price movement for a whole region, not individual towns or cities.
Good luck!

lincroft1710

House prices in most areas fell sharply between 1991 and 1995 and did not reach 1991 levels again until 1997/8. The purchase price of £108K in 1999 would suggest a figure above £88K in 1991. I would still lodge an appeal though.

mitchaa

blizeH wrote: »

Hi guys,

Just moved into a house that is rated at band E, meaning my council tax bill is a fairly substantial £1,853.

The house was valued at £235,000 - I entered that figure into the Nationwide house price calculator and it estimated the value back in 1991 to be £78,000 or so. Far below the £88k banding for category E.

Likewise the house was originally built in 1999, and valued at £108k. Again for me that wouldn't really tie in with the £88k banding in 1991.

Is there anything at all meaning it's not worth me having a to at getting the band reduced? I don't really understand this much beyond what I've just been reading through on this (fantastic!) site etc.

Thanks

You need to provide evidence. The calculator above is not evidence.

You need to provide details of similar houses in your area on a lower band. If all other houses at say 150sq m are in Band E in a 1/2m radius then you wont have a leg to stand on.

If there is evidence of same size houses being banded lower then lodge an appeal, if not then it wont be worth your while. They will just laugh at the calculator and tell you you've wasted your time. It's upto you to prove the banding is wrong.

blizeH

Thanks but how do I find out that? Like how to find out the other bands within my area? The results on the VOA came back with about 9 Ds and 3 Es in the area, but I'm not sure of the specifics like how many bedrooms etc they are.

There are a few on there with pending reviews it seems as well. The only thing the VOA really told me, was that the two houses next to mine are also in band E, but they're 5 bed and bigger than mine.

mitchaa

blizeH wrote: »

Thanks but how do I find out that? Like how to find out the other bands within my area? The results on the VOA came back with about 9 Ds and 3 Es in the area, but I'm not sure of the specifics like how many bedrooms etc they are.

There are a few on there with pending reviews it seems as well. The only thing the VOA really told me, was that the two houses next to mine are also in band E, but they're 5 bed and bigger than mine.

You need to find out as much information as you can and print it off. I know in Scotland for example there is a website that allows you to see the CT band of every house. I would have assumed there would also be 1 for the rest of the country. Then you need to match up sold prices. Like someone has said, the 90's had a major hosuing crash so you should not assume 97 was higher than 91. Ignore the calculator, it is next to useless and will be dismissed as 'evidence'. I went through the same thing with my last house. In the end I was unsuccessful with mine as there were similar sized properties in the higher band.

To be fair, you bought the house knowing that it was a Band E so should be prepared to pay that.

pinkpig08

Have you looked here?

HappyMJ

mitchaa wrote: »

To be fair, you bought the house knowing that it was a Band E so should be prepared to pay that.

I disagree with that. I bought my house a band C property with the full intention of appealing it to be a band B. I won at a very early stage (although 6 months after I had moved in but without actually attending the tribunal) when the only other band C properties on my street were slightly larger, corner plot and detached of which mine is none.

blizeH

Yeah there's a lot of good information on there thanks, that was the first place I looked! :-)

And fair points mitchaa. But whether or not the nationwide estimator (which by the way, is recommended by this very side) will be valid evidence the very fact my house would fall so firmly into band D on there makes me think I'm maybe onto something.

Saying that, on VOSA it looks like no one has appealed, so maybe I won't bother. It's just a lot of money I guess. I wasn't expecting it to be so high. My parents have a much better house than mine, and in a nicer area - and they pay less than I do!

HappyMJ

It costs nothing to appeal so it is not a waste of time or money. If you win then you save money every year. If you do lose then you are not out of pocket as long as you are sure they won't change it to a band F.