New build property and no council tax bill; what's the position here?

Captain_Darling

Hi everyone,

I've been scouring the internet for the answer to this question to no avail, and a friend suggested that I try here. So that's what I'm doing. This was the most suitable sounding forum that I could see on a quick glance, so I hope I've put this in the right place.

In July my wife and I moved in to a new build property. All houses on the street were built at the same time. As I understand it there was initially an application to change the name of the street (the street itself had existed before the houses, though there wasn't anything on it of note). This application actually failed, but initially we were given the 'new' address when moving in to the house. We are now using the 'old' address, complete with an entirely different post code.

The reason why I mention that background is because it may explain why the council don't see to fully realise that we exist. My wife called them after we moved in on more than one occasion to clarify our actual address. There was then a phone call sometime in mid August (again by my wife) asking for a street sign. We were told it would be provided within a couple of weeks. It also occurred to us in August that we hadn't received a Council Tax bill, though I'm not sure whether my wife mentioned that on the phone (I think she probably did, but I'm not certain off the top of my head).

In September someone from the Council knocked on our door asking for our address. Seemingly he was updating the electoral role. I provided him with the details and history of the road, and mentioned to him that we hadn't received a Council Tax bill, nor had we been provided with a street sign. He acknowledged this and said that he would sort everything out.

Fast forward to right now. The electoral role information came through our door a few weeks after that. But still no street sign. And still no Council Tax bill. I have checked with a couple of neighbours and they seem to have gotten their Council Tax bill (though oddly one hasn't received a water bill).

What's the position here? We have absolutely no problem paying our Council Tax, and have set aside the money to do so. It's just something that we want resolved, and the Council seem to be strangely apathetic in relation to. Presumably we will still be liable for the Council Tax years down the line? Or does that liability go away if we have never received a bill? I ask those question purely to get an idea on whether or not a point will come where the Council have to send us this bill or effectively lose the money.

Any and all answers and comments appreciated. We're at a bit of a loss as to where to go from here.

Gothicfairy

The only thing I can suggest is typing all the addresses into the VOA (which I think is https://www.voa.gov.uk ?) and see if they have your property listed and what banding they have given it.
That is where all the council bandings are shown so if it is there then I would think they are just behind in billing but if it is not there then they have maybe not even rated it yet ?

Not much help I am afraid but it is the best I have got..lol

Captain_Darling

Gothicfairy wrote: »

The only thing I can suggest is typing all the addresses into the VOA (which I think is?) and see if they have your property listed and what banding they have given it.
That is where all the council bandings are shown so if it is there then I would think they are just behind in billing but if it is not there then they have maybe not even rated it yet ?

Not much help I am afraid but it is the best I have got..lol

Thanks for the prompt response. I have checked that website and in fact a number of the houses on the street are not listed. Most of them, actually. By chance it seems that only the neighbours I have checked with (the ones that have received bills) are listed.

Which I guess changes the question. If my house isn't listed, does that there is no liability for Council Tax at all until it is rated? Or will I get a back dated bill for the length of time that I have been living here once it is rated?

xylophone

I think that you need to write to the rating authority stating that you moved into your property in July and pointing out that despite several requests, you have still not received any demand for council tax. Send the letter recorded delivery and if you have not received a reply within a fortnight, then copy your letter to the Council's Chief Executive.

In the meantime, you seem to have worked out approximately what the tax should be - hold it in a separate instant access account paying the highest interest you can find.

CIS

Which I guess changes the question. If my house isn't listed, does that there is no liability for Council Tax at all until it is rated? Or will I get a back dated bill for the length of time that I have been living here once it is rated?

The council will bill you from the date the valuation office decide is the date the property is to be banded from . I see them regularly at work and there seems to be no correlation to the date the VOA use - sometimes they'll use the date they visit and other times they wont.

The council have no say over the valuation of the property and the date of banding - you need to contact the VOA and speak to them. Once they have made the decision they will contact the council and advise them of the details so a bill can be issued.

JenJen70

I moved into a new build several years ago & it took over 6 months for me to receive a banding & the bill......I was advised at the time that it would take this long by the developers.

If I remember correctly I was liable to pay the Council Tax from the day I moved in even thought we weren't banded/billed for the first 6 months.

We too had a similar situation with the name of the Close as the properties were built at the end of an existing street, it took many months before we got a sign erected.

lincroft1710

The VOA tend to rely on councils providing the addresses of new houses which need to be banded, they don't usually initiate this themselves. They will band a new house if asked to by an occupier.

The effective date from when council tax is payable is usually determined by the council who issue a Completion Notice to the builder. If there is no Completion Notice, then the date is usually the date of first occupation.

caeler

I moved into a new build a year ago and was keen to get CTax set up however the property hadn't been banded when I moved in. The local council couldn't do anything so I called my local VOA office, every week until it was sorted. The poor guy at the office must have got fed up with me!! Apparently it took a while because they felt my property was falling between bands so lots of discussions had to be held plus I was the first one with that type of property by that developer in that area. The guy in the office was telling me that the plans had been supplied months and months prior to me moving in so had no idea why it handed already been banded - backlog I suspect.

This didn't seem to stop them registering me at the local council for elections and for my recycling boxes, they arrived before my banding did!! I also recommend you call your local water agency directly with your meter's number so you get a bill promptly. You will be liable for the lot even with the massive delay.

It took the best part of a year to get a street sign, but that was the developers responsibility and there is no news yet on the roads being adopted anytime soon. I emailed royal mail to get my address registered as I didn't exist to that point which made getting post redirection sorted rather tricky!