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

gardner1

Brothers house is Band B......he bought it in 2001 for £44,000 it was about £5k less than MV due to work needed the 2 houses either side went for £48k in 1998/9
Using all the nationwide price indicator and other similar sites they all come in around the £35k mark for 1991.will it be worth trying to appeal his Band and get it down to A or is not that simple

lincroft1710

gardner1 wrote: »

Brothers house is Band B......he bought it in 2001 for £44,000 it was about £5k less than MV due to work needed the 2 houses either side went for £48k in 1998/9
Using all the nationwide price indicator and other similar sites they all come in around the £35k mark for 1991.will it be worth trying to appeal his Band and get it down to A or is not that simple

House price indices are inaccurate.

In many areas after the drastic price fall, most house types did not achieve 1991 levels of value until 1997/1998. Your brother's house looks as if it might be in the correct band and his purchase price cannot be considered because of the state of repair of the house at that time.

MigsyBigsy

Hello all,

can someone tell me where to look for property prices in 1991 /92?

thanks

lincroft1710

MigsyBigsy wrote: »

Hello all,

can someone tell me where to look for property prices in 1991 /92?

thanks

They are not in the public domain. The Land Registry has details of sales of all registered land and property and you can download details of a particular sale, but I understand it costs £3 each time.

I used to suggest looking at archived newspaper property ads but they will only show asking prices.

Trudles

Hello,
I live in a new build property. We have not yet lived here for 2 years.
My neighbours are all band c. I am band b. I have the only 1 bedroom flat in the block of 6 flats. Every other flat has 2 bedrooms.
We are part of a help to buy scheme. No one has sold a property on my road. We only have the one block of flats on the help to buy scheme we are on. Every uther property is either a house or a council flat.
Do I use the valuation for my remortgage?
Or do I use the the price I actually paid as the valuation?
Any help would be very appreciated.
Many thanks,
Trudy

lincroft1710

Trudles wrote: »

Hello,
I live in a new build property. We have not yet lived here for 2 years.
My neighbours are all band c. I am band b. I have the only 1 bedroom flat in the block of 6 flats. Every other flat has 2 bedrooms.
We are part of a help to buy scheme. No one has sold a property on my road. We only have the one block of flats on the help to buy scheme we are on. Every uther property is either a house or a council flat.
Do I use the valuation for my remortgage?
Or do I use the the price I actually paid as the valuation?
Any help would be very appreciated.
Many thanks,
Trudy

This thread is for Council Tax Band queries, so you may not get the help you need. Ask a board guide if they can move it to a more suitable board.

N1xus

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for long post...

I live in a 2 bedroom flat that I bought in 2015 new build. My next door neighbour and I are council tax band E, but the rest of the 2 bed flats in the block are band D. My flat cost the same as all the other 2 beds with the exception of my next door neighbour who paid more than everyone else, but their flat is the largest in the block.

I called VOA and they tell me that they will not consider a review of my property despite the property prices being the same because "there is a significant difference" between my property and the other 2 bed flats, but wouldn't tell me what info they had that was considered to be significant. I was told that they get their info from planning dept of local council, and when I requested the info from them they said they will look into it but I should also contact building control, who want £36 to search for docs with no guarantee they even have anything!

Since then I have managed to secure the floor plans with square meterage from another neighbour and it looks like this:

1 bed flats: 47.19m2 Band C
All other 2 bed flats: 60.68/61.59m2 Band D
My flat: 66.77m2 Band E
Next door neighbour: 75.71m2 Band E

I would hardly call 5 square meters "significant", particularly as somehow I'm in the same banding as my neighbour 14 square meters larger than the others. The 1 beds are 14m sq less and are a band under the other 2 beds.

There are houses in my road as part of the same development that are also band E, but VOA apparently wont accept those for comparison (even though they were £150k more and are clearly much larger properties 3 bed 2 bathroom etc...)

So I had a search for properties at a neighbouring block of flats on rightmove to find some more comparisons and could only find details of band E properties, none of the band D were listed..:

2 bedroom flat: 107.28m2 Band E
2 floor, 2 bedroom flat: no total square meterage available but from floor plan every single room is quite significantly larger and it's two floors! Band E

How on earth am I in the same banding as that?!

Any suggestions/thoughts? I would say my property is certainly a lot closer to the band D properties in my building compared to my neighbour or the band E properties in the neighbouring block. Feel like I'm getting shafted here.

TIA!

lincroft1710

N1xus wrote: »

Since then I have managed to secure the floor plans with square meterage from another neighbour and it looks like this:

1 bed flats: 47.19m2 Band C
All other 2 bed flats: 60.68/61.59m2 Band D
My flat: 66.77m2 Band E
Next door neighbour: 75.71m2 Band E

I would hardly call 5 square meters "significant", particularly as somehow I'm in the same banding as my neighbour 14 square meters larger than the others. The 1 beds are 14m sq less and are a band under the other 2 beds.

There are houses in my road as part of the same development that are also band E, but VOA apparently wont accept those for comparison (even though they were £150k more and are clearly much larger properties 3 bed 2 bathroom etc...)

So I had a search for properties at a neighbouring block of flats on rightmove to find some more comparisons and could only find details of band E properties, none of the band D were listed..:

2 bedroom flat: 107.28m2 Band E
2 floor, 2 bedroom flat: no total square meterage available but from floor plan every single room is quite significantly larger and it's two floors! Band E

How on earth am I in the same banding as that?!

Any suggestions/thoughts? I would say my property is certainly a lot closer to the band D properties in my building compared to my neighbour or the band E properties in the neighbouring block. Feel like I'm getting shafted here.

TIA!

The top of Band E is almost 40% higher than the bottom so there will be a lot of different properties in the same band. The last 2 flats to which you referred may be underbanded or flats in the area may have a ceiling price which in 1991 was £120,000. Only the VOA will know this'

All you can do is present them with the evidence you have provided here and ask for some answers

ddks

Properties are banded based on 1991 sale prices- no matter when your property was built.
However, if there have been changes to the area, the changes will be reflected in the bandings of new properties.
Property sales pre 1994 are locked away - the public have no access to the locked sales.
Libraries do hold old newspapers on microfiche and you may be lucky and find addresses on some adverts. This might support your case but don't rely on it.
Only use properties that are comparable to yours. Property type Flats, bungalows, houses, 3,4 or 5 beds, single or double garages.
If you find larger properties in a lower band on your estate, check Rightmove for floor plans and compare them to your property -if possible print and save - the VOA won't always be truthful about property sizes.
Internal sizes are used for flats.
External sizes (excluding any garages/conservatories) are used for bungalows/houses.
Note conservatories are not included in the overall size of properties, as they are not of the same construction type of the main house.
Check the VOA list online, if there is no effect date, it means the band has been reviewed and deemed correct.
Anybody can write to the Valuation Office and ask for the number of proposals within a street/road/close. You can also ask to view these at the local office or request copies for a charge.
Proposals are public documents and can contain some useful information. The original band disputed, the reason for the proposal, the date the proposal was submitted and the date the person became the owner.
Good luck taxpayers

lincroft1710

ddks wrote: »

Properties are banded based on 1991 sale prices- no matter when your property was built.
However, if there have been changes to the area, the changes will be reflected in the bandings of new properties. Not necessarily

Property sales pre 1994 are locked away - the public have no access to the locked sales.
Libraries do hold old newspapers on microfiche and you may be lucky and find addresses on some adverts. This might support your case but don't rely on it. As these are not actual sales, it will only give an indication of prices asked

Only use properties that are comparable to yours. Property type Flats, bungalows, houses, 3,4 or 5 beds, single or double garages.
If you find larger properties in a lower band on your estate, check Rightmove for floor plans and compare them to your property -if possible print and save - the VOA won't always be truthful about property sizes. The VOA may not have the correct information, but I would suggest that there have only been 1% of occasions when they haven't been truthful

Internal sizes are used for flats.
External sizes (excluding any garages/conservatories) are used for bungalows/houses.
Note conservatories are not included in the overall size of properties, as they are not of the same construction type of the main house.
Check the VOA list online, if there is no effect date, it means the band has been reviewed and deemed correct. Not necessarily, it is more likely to mean there has been never been a challenge as most dwellings will not have an effective date against their entry

Anybody can write to the Valuation Office and ask for the number of proposals within a street/road/close. You can also ask to view these at the local office or request copies for a charge.
Proposals are public documents and can contain some useful information. The original band disputed, the reason for the proposal, the date the proposal was submitted and the date the person became the owner. Being pedantic it will be the date the person became the taxpayer

Good luck taxpayers

............