Council tax banding change notification after buying house

Rm-ca

Hi there,

We bought a house 6 weeks ago and have just had a letter stating the council tax band is going to go up to an E to an F

The reasons stated are because of work completed to the house by previous owner. We are a semi and the house has has a double storey extension.

Most houses in the street are a D band, few semi's are E and they want to make us an F. We will be the only ones in the area for that band

The price we paid though does fit into the F band so I'm not sure if we can challenge this?

It will cost an extra £300 per year.
The area is not posh and is on the outskirts of an area where there is lots of anti-social behaviour but where we are is relatively quiet

We're in Wales and I'd like to challenge this but have no idea if I stand a chance.
Any advice greatly appreciated :-)

mysterywoman10

Hi

I'm really interested in the answer to this! Strangely enough we are thinking of moving into Wales and I was looking at the cost of Council Tax etc. which is a less than where we currently live.

The property we are looking at is currently Band D. Which according to it's purchase new build purchase price in 2003 is wrong and it should have been a C.

Anyway here it says any revaluations should be based on the price it the house would have been worth at the time the "improvements" took place, if I've read it correctly?

http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/CouncilTax/howYourHomeIsbanded.html


After I read your post I looked up the property we are thinking of buying and it has an (i) after it which says "Improvement indicator - this shows that improvements have been made to the property that might result in the Council Tax band changing if a relevant transaction takes place, for example, if the property is sold."

Now as far as I'm aware it has only had a garage conversion, so debatable whether this adds value or not? Plus I think a small amount of land has been purchased to make the garden a bit bigger.

Did you not search the register here before purchase?

http://www.voa.gov.uk/cti/InitS.asp?lcn=0

I can see that a very large extension would increase it's tax band but why are they then implementing this after a sale has taken place rather than re-valuing at the time the improvements take place? Still that's what they do but still base it on the price it would have been worth then?

Rm-ca

Hi there,

Yes I did search before but missed the indicator :-/

That will teach me. I'm not sure if the tax band should go up after improvements. It's all a little confusing

I want to call them to discuss but I want to get my facts right first :-)

It seems a crazy amount of money, almost £1550 per year.

mysterywoman10

It does seem crazy indeed, but it's got me thinking seriously about the value of the property we are looking at in addition to the possible re-banding. You can also see on street view that there is a property two doors away that is having a massive extension built and it doesn't seem to be on an improvement indicator!

I wouldn't have thought of looking it up to be honest if it hadn't have been for your post.

This is a very helpful valuation page (got it from Martin's page here on Council Tax bands).

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/calculator/calculator.htm

Although how you do it for a retrospective extension I am not sure?

Hopefully someone else will appear soon who knows more about it all.

Mickygg

I've challenged mine as its a band higher than most neighbours but a smaller plot. So far I've been knocked back so going down the court/tribunal route.I'd say you have zero chance from my experience, especially as you say it's currently in the right band!

CIS

Welsh properties are valued based on their assessed value on 1 April 2003.

You can also see on street view that there is a property two doors away that is having a massive extension built and it doesn't seem to be on an improvement indicator!

It often takes a while for the records to be updated.

Now as far as I'm aware it has only had a garage conversion, so debatable whether this adds value or not?

If the garage has been converted to a living space then its very unlikely not to have added value but whether it pushes it in to another band or not depends on how close it was to the top of the band.

mysterywoman10

Thanks CIS I made a mistake in one of my posts it was banded right in June 2003 as a new build but it was only just in Band D at £92,950. So although as you say a garage conversion would add some value I doubt enough to take it into the next band above?

It does seem a very strange system where they wait for a house to be re-sold to re-band it? Because the price you would buy at today would still have to be re-adjusted back to 2003?

CIS

Because the price you would buy at today would still have to be re-adjusted back to 2003?

In Wales, yes. If it was England it would be adjusted back to April 1991.

CIS

So although as you say a garage conversion would add some value I doubt enough to take it into the next band above?

Its hard to say - loss of a garage would decrease the value but an extra room would increase it.

tim123456789

Rm-ca wrote: »

Hi there,

Yes I did search before but missed the indicator :-/

That will teach me. I'm not sure if the tax band should go up after improvements. It's all a little confusing

I want to call them to discuss but I want to get my facts right first :-)

It seems a crazy amount of money, almost £1550 per year.

It goes up on the next sale after the improvements so the process is correct

Whether the revaluation is is another matter, as there's no incentive for the improving owner to challenge it as they are never going to have to pay it.

So that challenge is down to you. You have N months to do it, if you wish (sorry can't remember the actual number)

mysterywoman10

CIS wrote: »

Welsh properties are valued based on their assessed value on 1 April 2003.

If the garage has been converted to a living space then its very unlikely not to have added value but whether it pushes it in to another band or not depends on how close it was to the top of the band.

It would have to be worth another £20,000 to take it to the band above at 2003 prices I can't see that a garage conversion would add that much value in 2003?

Going back to the orgiinal poster as I don't want to take over their thread, the valuation link I gave you is the best thing to play around with and look at sold house prices in the area going back to 2003 and for the property you have bought to get an indicator of what it's value would have been then with the extension. Look at the band rates for Wales based on what it would have been worth in 2003 with the extension, hopefully this will give you enough information to possibly challenge the increase.