Should We Have Been Notified By Someone?

Humsta

We recently purchased a house which had been extended and was classed as Band D. The sale completed in August and on Christmas eve we received a letter saying it had been classified to Band E and we owed £300 for back dated council tax benefit (nice).

We took into consideration council tax bands before we purchased and might not have purchased this house if we'd known the band was going to rise, as we could have put the extra monthly spend to a different property that was Band D.

We didn't know about this law... so is this just a case of buyer beware or should someone have notified us before we committed to this house?

Incidentally I don't think we have a case for getting it reclassified back to Band D.

Any advise would be appreciated as I really don't think the solicitor's going to be impartial...

F_T_Buyer

http://www.voa.gov.uk/cti/InitS.asp?lcn=0

You should of known because if you look at your house in the above website, it would have had an astrix saying an amendment has taken place. I dare say you solicitor would have looked at this, and made you aware.

You can also appeal it, but compare this to other houses in the road first. If your house has been extended it's probably correct.

Gwhiz

Should HAVE known

theartfullodger

Learn from the experience, realise that the cheapest solicitors may not be the best, move on.

There's a lot (a lot..) of people with much bigger debts that £300.. although I appreciate you feel very hard done by & unfairly treated and someone else whould pay for this & it's all their fault....

Hope it all works out...

poppysarah

Council tax band on VOA is one thing I always check - easy and free to do. Especially vital if work has been done.

timmyt

Humsta wrote: »

We recently purchased a house which had been extended and was classed as Band D. The sale completed in August and on Christmas eve we received a letter saying it had been classified to Band E and we owed £300 for back dated council tax benefit (nice).

We took into consideration council tax bands before we purchased and might not have purchased this house if we'd known the band was going to rise, as we could have put the extra monthly spend to a different property that was Band D.

We didn't know about this law... so is this just a case of buyer beware or should someone have notified us before we committed to this house?

Incidentally I don't think we have a case for getting it reclassified back to Band D.

Any advise would be appreciated as I really don't think the solicitor's going to be impartial...

Solicitors ensure you get a legally sound conveyance of the house from the seller. They do not care about, nor look into how much Council Tax you will be paying. You must check that, as you are left to do some things in the process, or were you expecting your lawyers to measure up for carpets and curtains, perhaps make sure there was milk and bread in the kitchen when you moved in.

If the Sellers knew there was a rebanding and had received a 'notice' about it and didn't tell you then that is their fault, but nothing you can do now as you won't sue for £300.

But nothing to do with the conveyancer, nothing whatsoever.

Rebanding can take place at any time, a second after you bought, and so it's just one of those things.

silvercar

£300 a year would be about £4000 extra on a mortgage, not enough to make a significant difference to your choice of home - particularly as the whole country will be revalued at some point. On a positive vein, you now live in a band D house not Band C, could make a difference when you come to sell by appearing to offer value for money.

Humsta

Thank you everybody for your comments - you're all talking along the same lines so guess this is just one we'll have to swallow this time...