reduction in council tax due to nearby development?

anna31

The recent Tonight with Trevor MacDonald programme looking at council tax banding looked at a family who had appealed against their Council Tax Banding as they felt their home had been devalued due to the development of a factory nearby which completely ruined their view. Their Band was reduced though not becasue of the factory - the Council said they had been put in the wrong band years ago when the properties were originally banded. The programme suggested that the Council said this and lowered the Band to avoid acknowleding the fact that YES the factory had devalued their property and their band would need to be altered to reflect this - the fear being that this would open the flood gates to anyone in similar circumstances, and councils up and down the country losing thousands in Tax. HAS ANYONE HAD THEIR COUNCIL TAX BAND REDUCED BECAUSE OF LOCAL DEVELOPMENTS ETC WHICH HAVE AFFACTED THE PRICE OF THEIR PROPERTY? If so, how did you go about it?

Thanks,

Anna:

kathyd_2

Hi Anna, can't help I'm afraid, but I would like some information on council tax banding also. If anyone can help or point us to where there is a useful thread, would be much obliged.

shelly

You can go here.... http://www.voa.gov.uk/council_tax/cti_home.htm to find out what band you are in and see if your neighbours are in the same band.

Please be aware though that some folks on this site have reported that when questioning their council tax banding, thinking they were too high, they got put into an even higher banding as the council said their banding was too low!!

kathyd_2

shelly wrote:

You can go here.... http://www.voa.gov.uk/council_tax/cti_home.htm to find out what band you are in and see if your neighbours are in the same band.

Please be aware though that some folks on this site have reported that when questioning their council tax banding, thinking they were too high, they got put into an even higher banding as the council said their banding was too low!!

Thanks for that Shelly. I've already done the calculations and it would appear that I was in band C when my house, in 1991, was valued at £50,004. According to the table I should have been in band B. Properties in band C commenced at £52,001, so my property was over estimated by £2,000 and I was just wondering if it was worth pursuing.

Also my next door neighbour has a large extension on their property and the neighbour on his other side has an extra room in effect making the 'footprint' of their house larger than mine and yet both are also in band C. The two neighbours the other side of me are identical to my house and are also in band C. Can anyone tell me if extensions make a difference to the banding?

shelly

kathyd wrote:

Also my next door neighbour has a large extension on their property and the neighbour on his other side has an extra room in effect making the 'footprint' of their house larger than mine and yet both are also in band C. The two neighbours the other side of me are identical to my house and are also in band C. Can anyone tell me if extensions make a difference to the banding?

An extension won't make any difference to the banding until....a) the property is sold, then it will go up if needs be or b) when the council re-bands every property.
We done an extension 18 months ago and when we sell our house it will go up to the next band then, not until.