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

Carriage_Girl

We purchased an agricultural property in 1995. The bungalow was built by the farmer in 1964 and has always had an agricultural tie, and we bought it when the farmer retired. How can I find out the value of the property in 1991, as we were the first buyers, and there is no other similar sized property in the area.? It does have 10 acres of land and a couple of modern barns, one of which we built.

For the actual size of the modest bungalow, I think the Council Tax banding is quite high.

lincroft1710

Carriage_Girl wrote: »

We purchased an agricultural property in 1995. The bungalow was built by the farmer in 1964 and has always had an agricultural tie, and we bought it when the farmer retired. How can I find out the value of the property in 1991, as we were the first buyers, and there is no other similar sized property in the area.? It does have 10 acres of land and a couple of modern barns, one of which we built.

For the actual size of the modest bungalow, I think the Council Tax banding is quite high.

Virtually impossible as if this is a working farm the method of valuation of the dwelling for CT purposes is calculated on a different basis to a stand alone dwelling.

Rabpocock

I am looking to contest my council tax band but I am unable to check the value of my house in 1991 as the first time my house was sold was in 1996. The nationwide calculator says I should be in a lower band but when reading the .gov website on evidence it says that the nationwide calculator is not sufficient evidence. Any advice?

CIS

Rabpocock wrote: »

I am looking to contest my council tax band but I am unable to check the value of my house in 1991 as the first time my house was sold was in 1996. The nationwide calculator says I should be in a lower band but when reading the .gov website on evidence it says that the nationwide calculator is not sufficient evidence. Any advice?

What about looking at neighbouring property ?

Rabpocock

The street I live in is a mixture of houses, both in size and set-up. There are some in my band and some in the lower band

qqueen

We moved into a our house at the end of 2017 and are in Tax Band E. The Nationwide calculation suggests the house would have been worth around £81k in 1991, so band D. The house was built before then but I can't find sales figures going any further back than 2001. No changes have been made to the property as it is Grade II listed (except an additional bit of unclaimed land added to the garden, if that would count).

My neighbours' houses aren't the same size, though the immediate neighbour (whose house is part of the same building) had a council tax re-evaluation which brought them from band F to band C in 1993- it's a smaller house, 3 bed rather than 4.

I've found other 4 bed properties nearby which are also terraced (it's possible that our house is considered semi detached, Zoopla does, but it does share walls with a property on each side. Could that affect council tax rates?) and which are in band D. It's hard to find very similar properties due to the ages of the houses, but they are roughly the same size I'd say. I've found also a property in my tax band which is similarish but worth £100k more..

None are on my street as my 'street' is a tiny alleyway, but are in the same 5 figure postcode area.

Would this be enough to challenge on? I think it unlikely the band would change to F, judging by the other properties in that band.

lincroft1710

qqueen wrote: »

We moved into a our house at the end of 2017 and are in Tax Band E. The Nationwide calculation suggests the house would have been worth around £81k in 1991, so band D. The house was built before then but I can't find sales figures going any further back than 2001. No changes have been made to the property as it is Grade II listed (except an additional bit of unclaimed land added to the garden, if that would count).

My neighbours' houses aren't the same size, though the immediate neighbour (whose house is part of the same building) had a council tax re-evaluation which brought them from band F to band C in 1993- it's a smaller house, 3 bed rather than 4.

I've found other 4 bed properties nearby which are also terraced (it's possible that our house is considered semi detached, Zoopla does, but it does share walls with a property on each side. Could that affect council tax rates?) and which are in band D. It's hard to find very similar properties due to the ages of the houses, but they are roughly the same size I'd say. I've found also a property in my tax band which is similarish but worth £100k more..

None are on my street as my 'street' is a tiny alleyway, but are in the same 5 figure postcode area.

Would this be enough to challenge on? I think it unlikely the band would change to F, judging by the other properties in that band.

The NW calculator is inaccurate and the VOA tend to dismiss any claims using this. The 4 bed Band D terrace houses are your best bet, but you seem unsure whether you home is a semi or terrace. A semi detached house would generally be worth more than a terraced version of the same house and thus could affect the CT band.

davelees215

Anyone know what is meant by the local area when looking at similar properties. I've been desperately trying to find something close to my dad's retirement flat but as it's rural ish (being near Harrogate ) I can't find any other rural retirement flats within 10 miles and all the other flats in his block are bigger. There are ones in harrogate but of course they're urban and so I presume different.
He never sorted anything out in first 6 months as he has dementia and had thrown all his post away and when I wrote to them when he moved in they never replied to me.
He's on band e for a flat he bought last year for £160 (but I now know they don't care about that due to 6 month rile).

lincroft1710

davelees215 wrote: »

Anyone know what is meant by the local area when looking at similar properties. I've been desperately trying to find something close to my dad's retirement flat but as it's rural ish (being near Harrogate ) I can't find any other rural retirement flats within 10 miles and all the other flats in his block are bigger. There are ones in harrogate but of course they're urban and so I presume different.
He never sorted anything out in first 6 months as he has dementia and had thrown all his post away and when I wrote to them when he moved in they never replied to me.
He's on band e for a flat he bought last year for £160 (but I now know they don't care about that due to 6 month rile).

Look at non retirement flats (but not council built) within a 10 mile radius as well as looking at retirement flats in Harrogate. You have no other choice because there are no immediate comparables

blundenkate

Does anyone know if i’m Able to claim for a rental property which I moved out of last month?
With the exception of two which are the big semi’s at either end, every other house in the street is band D. However I was paying band E for a two bed one bath terraced house. Next door is converted to have 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms and is still only band D. It only came to my attention this month when I moved a few streets over into an almost identical house and saw I was on Band C. I did some digging and think i’ve Been wildly overcharged for the year and a half I lived in the old house. Any advice would be appreciated ��