Council Tax Cost Cutting: reduce your band and grab any discounts Discussion Area

Leodogger

We live in a housing association bungalow, 2 bed mid terrace which is banded in "C".

When they were built in 1990 they were sold for prices between £58,000 and £60,000 but due to the property market dropping, we moved in 6 months ago and paid £93,500. I queried the band when we moved in but the housing association said it wasn't worth applying due to the banding being applied using the original purchase price. All the bungalows are OAP bungalows and all are in Band C. I di not do anything and then read this site and it appeared that you can use the price you pay (current) and work backwards to establish the banding. Is that correct ?

I did this with our purchase price and it was valued at £37,500 or Band A!

If so can I apply for a reassessment ?

lincroft1710

JWhite wrote: »

it appeared that you can use the price you pay (current) and work backwards to establish the banding. Is that correct ?

I did this with our purchase price and it was valued at £37,500 or Band A!

If so can I apply for a reassessment ?

A sale price on or as near as possible to the valuation date (i.e. 1 Apr 1991) is far more reliable than taking a current sale price and "working back".

You can of course apply but I'd expect the VOA would just quote the 1990 sale price and say it supports Band C.

Leodogger

lincroft1710 wrote: »

A sale price on or as near as possible to the valuation date (i.e. 1 Apr 1991) is far more reliable than taking a current sale price and "working back".

You can of course apply but I'd expect the VOA would just quote the 1990 sale price and say it supports Band C.

Well actually I have been doing some digging and it appears that all the 3 bed semis with private rear garages and private gardens plus 2 living rooms in the street we adjoin were all banded in the same banding as our 2 bed, communal parking, communal gardens, 1 living room terraced bungalows, so I am going to appeal on those grounds, plus there is a new development of bungalows just down the road which admittedly have 2 bedrooms but also have private parking, private gardens and are bigger than ours and are in Band C. Like Martyn Lewis himself said, what they did was drive down the road and band all houses in the same street exactly the same. When they built our development of 20 houses, the council just stuck them in the same band, after all how can a 2 bed terraced bungalow be banded a C, the same as 3 bed semis with private gardens and garages ?

Leodogger

JWhite wrote: »

Well actually I have been doing some digging and it appears that all the 3 bed semis with private rear garages and private gardens plus 2 living rooms in the street we adjoin were all banded in the same banding as our 2 bed, communal parking, communal gardens, 1 living room terraced bungalows, so I am going to appeal on those grounds, plus there is a new development of bungalows just down the road which admittedly have 2 bedrooms but also have private parking, private gardens and are bigger than ours and are in Band C. Like Martyn Lewis himself said, what they did was drive down the road and band all houses in the same street exactly the same. When they built our development of 20 houses, the council just stuck them in the same band, after all how can a 2 bed terraced bungalow be banded a C, the same as 3 bed semis with private gardens and garages ?

Also forgot to add, the new development of bungalows down the road are all semis ! :mad:

lincroft1710

JWhite wrote: »

the council just stuck them in the same band, after all how can a 2 bed terraced bungalow be banded a C, the same as 3 bed semis with private gardens and garages ?

1) The council do not band dwellings, this is done by the Valuation Office Agency, part of HMRC.

2) Band C has a range of values from £52,001 to £68,000, so 2 bed bungalows could be towards bottom of band, 3 bed houses towards the top. Bungalows tend to be worth more than houses of comparable size. But what is of paramount importance is the actual sale price in Apr 1991, or as near as possible to that date.

Leodogger

lincroft1710 wrote: »

1) The council do not band dwellings, this is done by the Valuation Office Agency, part of HMRC.

2) Band C has a range of values from £52,001 to £68,000, so 2 bed bungalows could be towards bottom of band, 3 bed houses towards the top. Bungalows tend to be worth more than houses of comparable size. But what is of paramount importance is the actual sale price in Apr 1991, or as near as possible to that date.

I don't see how they can band a 3 bed house the same as a 2 bed bungalow when we have half the space of the house and no private garden, no private off road parking or garage and no additional living room. On top of that we don't have our own gardening bins, 20 properties have to share 2 !!!!! :eek:

It is time homes were rebanded properly instead of the "lucky bag" attempt the VOA office made the first time around when they went down streets at 60mph and just dumped all properties in the street in the same banding.

Leodogger

JWhite wrote: »

I don't see how they can band a 3 bed house the same as a 2 bed bungalow when we have half the space of the house and no private garden, no private off road parking or garage and no additional living room. On top of that we don't have our own gardening bins, 20 properties have to share 2 !!!!! :eek:

It is time homes were rebanded properly instead of the "lucky bag" attempt the VOA office made the first time around when they went down streets at 60mph and just dumped all properties in the street in the same banding.

On top of this the houses are selling for twice the price of our bungalows !

lincroft1710

JWhite wrote: »

It is time homes were rebanded properly instead of the "lucky bag" attempt the VOA office made the first time around when they went down streets at 60mph and just dumped all properties in the street in the same banding.

In your first post you said the bungalows were selling for between £58K and £60K in 1990. The area I dealt with when I worked in the VOA saw a 10% reduction in house prices between 1990 and 1991. In your case this would suggest a 1991 value of £53K to £54K, which places them just into Band C.

Clearly the banding was carried out using the evidence of actual sale prices, very close to the 1991 valuation date. If you think the VOA or its contractors drove down streets at 60 mph, you are very, very much mistaken

Leodogger

lincroft1710 wrote: »

In your first post you said the bungalows were selling for between £58K and £60K in 1990. The area I dealt with when I worked in the VOA saw a 10% reduction in house prices between 1990 and 1991. In your case this would suggest a 1991 value of £53K to £54K, which places them just into Band C.

Clearly the banding was carried out using the evidence of actual sale prices, very close to the 1991 valuation date. If you think the VOA or its contractors drove down streets at 60 mph, you are very, very much mistaken

Even Martyn Lewis states that these valuations were banded in a hurry as they didn't have the manpower or time to carry them out properly, so don't give me the flannel that they were done correctly.

I know loads of people who are very unhappy with their tax bandings, that's why Martyn Lewis undertook this exercise in the first place to tell people how to appeal if they felt their tax band was incorrect !

You haven't answered my question - how can a 3 bed semi house twice the size of my bungalow with private gardens, off road parking and rear garages and twice the price of my bungalow be in the same tax band as my bungalow ? Bungalows usually have lots of land and that is why they are banded higher, but our bungalow by square metreage is minute. Surely it is the footprint of the whole property and the size of the land it stands on which sets the rate for the band on properties in the same post code ?

lincroft1710

It matters not, the size, type or age, or their value in 2011/2. I'll repeat it yet again and this time you may understand, it is what a dwelling would have sold for on 1 April 1991 that matters and the 1990 sale price of these bungalows seems to indicate a value at that date in excess of £52K, and therefore Band C.

I'm not an authorised spokesman for the VOA, so I am not obligated to explain why different properties are in the same band. I worked for them for 35 years, the last 12 of which were spent settling CT bands, so I offer advice, suggestions, insight into the thought processes behind CT banding and share my knowledge of certain aspects of CT law.

I have already offered a possible explanation, another is that the houses are in too low a band. If you want the actual reason ask the VOA.