Council tax on a derelict building

layla11

We purchased our property in 1997 and it was derelict. We refurbished it and moved into part of it in 1998. Over the following years we completed it. I am just wondering should our council tax band be this high or should we only be taxed on the value it was when we bought it. Although the property next door is a farmhouse and we have a barn they are F and we are G all other properties are E. I don't want to open a can of worms by contacting the council until I know that we are in the wrong band, the last thing I need is an increase!!

lincroft1710

What is the effective date of the band?

layla11

sorry for delay in reply
I have just checked and it say with effect from 18/05/1999

lincroft1710

Then the band should reflect the physical condition as at 18 May 1999. There is a possibility that if some "minor" work still needed doing then this may have been disregarded.

rcorke

I believe that your council tax banding should be from the date you purchased the property.

We recently moved into a renovation project and had to have the band looked at.

From my experience and understanding of the rules they will not take into account the state of repair i.e that is was derelict at the time of purchase because they have to assume that all homes are in an equal state of repair (that sucks a bit).

However they will take into account lack of modernisation for example lack of central heating and lack of kitchen were two things that were taken into account on ours.

I guess you need to contact the local VOA office to get the date of banding corrected to your purchase date and provide evidence such as estate agent details and any receipts for things like new kitchen, central heating and other modernisation works, if you want to have your band corrected.

We did have to appeal to get our banding correct. The first inspector valued the property how it was going to be when all the modernisation work was done (even though I knew this to be incorrect). So we appealed and presented evidence of what modernisation work had been done since we moved in and got moved down a band.

Hope this helps
Rachel

lincroft1710

rcorke wrote: »

I believe that your council tax banding should be from the date you purchased the property.

This would be correct if the dwelling was banded and it was purchased after 1 Apr 1993, however in OP's case it would appear that when she bought the property it was not banded. The VOA won't "correct" the effective date in this case as it appears to be the earliest date that the property became a dwelling.

As I said in my previous post, in OP's case the effective date is 18 May 1999 and the band should reflect the physical condition of the dwelling at that date.

In any event it is well past the 6 month time limit for the OP to appeal the CT band. She can ask the VOA to check the band but has no right to appeal the decision to a Tribunal.