Rates and water charges - just curious.....

mackers8923

IvanOpinion wrote:

Whether or not it is included in the rates ia mute point. I can't remember the actual figures but as an example (I would need to check the figures) the average house in NI may pays about £800 in rates while in England the average council tax is about £1000 plus £300 or so of water. If we are to say that water was included then that would mean we were effectively paying £500 in local taxes which is half of what our cousins in England pay ... yet in NI we demand more services. I know the two tax systems are different and that council powers are different but we still have remember our rates includes two elements which allows us to compare liek for like.

I was told a couple of years ago that in 2010 (I think) we can expect to be paying double the current amount of rates (I can't remember if this included or excluded water). So if, for example, your rates were £1000 in 2003/2004 then expect to be paying £2000 in 2010. This of course was only one councillors prediction, but past experience shows he usually knows what is going on.

ivan

As you say time will tell, Regional Rates went up 6% was it last week? It won't be long before we are paying more and as you say possibly double!

marksimpson

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6376859.stm

Belfast (up 20%) Castlereagh (up 19%), North Down (up 18%), Dungannon and Ards (both up 15%).

mackers8923

marksimpson wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6376859.stm

Belfast (up 20%) Castlereagh (up 19%), North Down (up 18%), Dungannon and Ards (both up 15%).

So thats the water in, Regional Rates and now Domestic Rates whats next, how much more does Hain want from us?

maccaz

http://www.nics.gov.uk/press/dfp/average_northern_ireland_domestic_rate_bills.pdf

This is the new District Rates to calculate you new rates for the year. Multiply the capital value ( you should have recieved a copy of your CV last year) by your district rate.

IE In Dungannon a house worth £120,000 would pay
120000 X 0.005892 = £707.04 for the year.

Hope this helps, its a pdf file, if you can't open it let me know.

leftieM

You mean by the 'total rate' value?
I got very excited when I multiplied our capital value by the district rate and it came out at £200. Oh well!

maccaz

Sorry leftieM
you're right, it is the Total Rate.

It's the District Rate and Regional Rate added together.

belfastgirl23

Hopefully some good news from the BBC article posted by marksimpson

Where a householder's capital valuation results in an increase in the rates bill of 33% or greater, he or she will be entitled automatically to Transitional Relief, which phases the introduction of the new levy over a three-year period."

Thank god for that *sigh of relief* we are looking at our rates bill going from £880 a year to £1800 as well as £220 water rates in the first year. This means for this year a total of over £1400 for both services, a rise of 60%. Not looking forward to year 3 - will be around £650 water and £1800 rates :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

leftieM

Did you see on Maccaz's pdf that in some places the average rates have gone up by over 100%???

agal

belfastgirl23 wrote:

Not looking forward to year 3 - will be around £650 water and £1800 rates :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

......by which time (2010) the new capital valuations will be underway:eek:

IvanOpinion

leftieM wrote:

Did you see on Maccaz's pdf that in some places the average rates have gone up by over 100%???

That was always going to be an obvious result in areas where there is a higher proportion of older housing that have not their rates recalculated in many years.

As an example a friend of mine lives in the smallest house on a particular street ... it was actually built on somebody elses land when they sold off their garden. His rates were more than double what the houses around him were paying. Under the new scheme his rates have come down slightly while those houses around him have almost tripled.

I would actually suggest that those receiving the bigget rises have been getting away lightly for many years and not been contributing a fair amount into the local taxation pot. The new system, while I do not claim it to be any fairer, will however level the playing field again.

Ivan