Council tax band - right or wrong?

pheobe2

Hi,
I used this website to try and find out if I'm paying the right council tax - first I did neighbours' check and found out that the both properties on each side of our terraced house were in the same tax band as us - C. However, when I did the valuations check and used the calculator to check house value in 1991 from selling prices - our property and those on each side came in tax band B. I also phoned our local valuations office which said that according to them tax band C was the right one but if I wanted them to check that I'd have to do a formal request. Both houses on each side are identical to ours - could it be that all of us are in the wrong tax band and is it worth me going into this further.
Any ideas of what to do next?

lincroft1710

Bearing in mind that valuation calculators are inaccurate what was the exact figure it gave as the 1991 value of your house?

Red_dog_Sam

Borderline valuations (e.g. £51000 = BAND B but you're in C for 52+) are unlikley to be changed but nothing ventured nothing gained.
It isn't unknown for whole streets to be revalued following a rebanding of one similar house in it - so it not impossible that you are all in the wrong tax band. It may seem strange now but back in 1993 when Council Tax was introduced, people were fighting to be in higher band as they felt being in the lower band devalued their property.

lincroft1710

Red_dog_Sam wrote: »

It may seem strange now but back in 1993 when Council Tax was introduced, people were fighting to be in higher band as they felt being in the lower band devalued their property.

I worked in the VOA at that time dealing with CT appeals. Out of about 5,000 appeals, I would doubt that any more than 1% wanted an increase.

John_Pierpoint

Council Tax was nothing like the huge wallop of a payment out of the average wage, that it is now.
I checked mine at the time and felt it to be about right, then I had great fun with the owners of the smaller houses at the bottom of the road;
they were paying considerably more per year in spite of being in a lower band.

lincroft1710

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

they were paying considerably more per year in spite of being in a lower band.

Why was that?

John_Pierpoint

The other end of the road is in a different borough.
This was most acute in London where the occupants of houses on one side of the road (Tory) paid no council tax at all, while those on the other side (Labour) paid one of the higher rates in the country.
Wandsworth and Lambeth, if I remember correctly; mind you there was a bit of gerrymandering going on. If you claimed your legal right to be re-housed by the council because you were homeless, Wandsworth would find some where for you in Sutton. Perfectly logical as Sutton property is cheaper than Wandsworth property.
Funny that, it is becoming government policy now.

lincroft1710

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

The other end of the road is in a different borough.

Wondered if that was the case. Does happen in the provinces but you're talking only a relatively small amount. Some residents with the postal address of Any St, Weatherfield would boast that their house was actually in Emmerdale (the boundary cut a particular 1980s estate in half) but weren't so happy that they paid 10% more CT for the same house.

pheobe2

I found two selling prices for our property - Mar 2000 - sold for £83,950- calculator valued the house in 1991 at £44,623. Then in Dec 2004 - sold for £154,995 - calculator valued the house at £51,104 (very close to 52K)

lincroft1710

pheobe2 wrote: »

I found two selling prices for our property - Mar 2000 - sold for £83,950- calculator valued the house in 1991 at £44,623. Then in Dec 2004 - sold for £154,995 - calculator valued the house at £51,104 (very close to 52K)

So was the Mar 2000 price low, possibly to reflect house needed work doing, or was the Dec 2004 price too high or is the calculator completely unreliable?

Ask VOA to review the band and quote the above sales. It might be worth speaking to your neighbours to see how much they paid for their houses.

pheobe2

In Mar 2000 the house was new built and sold for the first time. It was part of a new housing development. I could only find more recent 2009 sale prices for the neighbours on either side - Sep 2009 one was sold for 154K and the other in Dec 2009 for 173K. As the original owners have now gone this is all I have. But I suppose the likelyhood of all of us being moved to higher band than band C is very low so I don't think we have much to lose i.e. the worst thing that can happen is we stay in band C...