Council Tax Reband - 1991 prices?

stoat

Hi

I'm currently in a bit of a battle with the VOA over our council tax band. We moved into our house a few months ago, unfortunately because the previous owner built a conservatory 12 years ago, the VOA sent round an assessor who then decided to increase the council tax band. I have been fighting this ever since because the MSE calculators all suggest we should be in the middle of our previous band, unfortunately there aren't many houses in the area which are similar except one of the neighbours which is identical minus the conservatory and is in our previous lower band.

I've had a couple of exchanges with the VOA, presenting dozens of houses which are worth much more than ours but are now in the lower band but they have rejected all my arguments saying that recent sale prices and index calculators are worthless, only 1991 prices can be used as a comparison. This would be fine if this information was actually available, they have quoted three houses which are about 4 miles away which they say are similar size and in the same band, but can't reveal their exact location, I have no doubt I could find examples supporting my case but where do I find the 1991 information or how big they are etc?

Is it just me or is this whole system flawed and unfair? The VOA seem to be only interested in house size and seem to ignore other things which affect the value, e.g garden size, general condition and maintenance etc. It also seems so unfair that the previous owners have the benefit of an improvement for over a decade without any rise in council tax, then the new owners have to pay for it. Do the government have no intention to sort it out?

Sorry if that is a bit of a rant, :mad:

lincroft1710

VOA do tend to "lump" houses together, irrespective of garden size which wasn't as important in 1991 as it probably is now. In any case the sales details the VOA have do not show garden size. A poor state of repair has to be ignored when valuing for CT.

If you have made a valid proposal for a lower CT band, then the VOA should provide you with addresses and sizes of the comparables they intend to present if the appeal proceeds to a tribunal hearing. On receipt of these comparables you have the right to ask for sale prices of an equal number of dwellings.

You cannot at present source 1991 sale prices, the best you can do is search archive property ads from local newspapers which will show asking prices.

The government purposely wrote Council Tax law so that current owners would not be financially penalised if they carried out alterations and improvements to their homes. It does make sense because if you were in the market for a (say) 4 bed 120 sq m house you would expect to pay the relevant CT band whether it was purpose built or was extended from a 3 bed 100 sq m house.

However I am surprised the VOA have increased the band just because a conservatory has been built.

stoat

Thanks for your reply.

We have made a valid proposal, they have said if we disagree with their rejection the next step is to go to a tribunal, personally i'd rather avoid this as it sounds more like a trial. At this stage though they have provided rather vague locations (e.g. village name) and building sizes in sq/m but not specific addresses, so they could be any houses really.

So, we wouldn't be able to get any more detailed information without going to the tribunal stage? Which if its limited to an equal number to those they have provided then it's a bit of a lottery on us happening to pick the right houses for comparison. There does seem to be a huge overlap in the values of properties in neighbouring bands.

Ugh, what a pain, good idea about property ads from the time, is there an easy way to obtain these (e.g. on the internet)?

Unfortunately it is quite a large conservatory, if quite ugly, I kind of wish the previous owners hadn't bothered now.

Surely wouldn't it be better if every year the council produced a new set of bands for the area, then every time a house sells it would be rebanded based on the current value rather than a guess of what it was worth in the distant past, then at least the buyer would know what to expect.

Thanks!

lincroft1710

Tribunals aren't trials, VOA sets out their case and supporting evidence, you say why you disagree and provide your evidence. Tribunal members make their decision after all the cases for that day have been heard and all parties have left.

You will not get addresses of comps until the case has been given a date for a tribunal hearing.

I would doubt that 1991 property ads would be online.

An annual revaluation would be phenomenally expensive as well as a logistical nightmare and it would be the VOA who would be responsible not the council.