Council tax banding change notification after buying house

lincroft1710

tim123456789 wrote: »

You have N months to do it, if you wish (sorry can't remember the actual number)

In this case N = 6.

abankerbutnotafatcat

Rm-ca wrote: »

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

I pay more than that for Band D.

mysterywoman10

So do I in our current house but clearly Wales's Council tax rates overall are lower, but probably far less services especially in rural areas.

There is a massive difference on the property I'm looking at though like the OP between band D and E i.e. 300+ over 10 years this is £3000 so quite a lot particular if you are on a tight income or are looking to lower your costs.

Also the Welsh system seems to set a different rate for nearly every village/small district! Whereas in England the rates across the country/borough would be the same.

I would be well annoyed if I moved to a house that was much smaller than I am in now to a more rural area to only find that it was put up to a Band higher than existing house. So I fully sympathise with the OP.

What would be helpful is some clear guidance on how a property is valued retrospectively for an improvement, I think it is a ridiculous system that it only happens when the property is sold, it should happen when the improvements took place.

CIS

Whereas in England the rates across the country/borough would be the same.

There are parish charges in many areas of England.

lincroft1710

mysterywoman10 wrote: »

What would be helpful is some clear guidance on how a property is valued retrospectively for an improvement, I think it is a ridiculous system that it only happens when the property is sold, it should happen when the improvements took place.

In England and Scotland dwellings are valued for CT purposes based on their physical state at 1 Apr 1993 or date of last sale (if later) but using Apr 1991 values. In Wales Apr 2003 values, physical state Apr 2005.

Parliament purposely drafted the CT legislation so that homeowners would not be penalised for improving their homes.

Joons

Challenge it, I did and got my band reduced from an E to a D.

traeth1

We appealed after buying our house in 2003 and were caught out by the 2005 revaluation when the rebanding from E to F was back dated. We have recently discovered from correspondence with the Wales Valuation Office that the rules in Wales are inconsistent as shown by other posts here. For example, someone could improve their property knowing that they've increased the value but would not suffer paying any more council tax. This would fall on the poor unsuspecting mug who buys it next. We however bought our property in good faith only to be penalised at no fault of our own.
We have asked the BBC and ITV Wales consumer programmes to highlight these inconsistencies but there seems to be a conspiracy of silence in the Welsh media. Carwyn Jones told us in his surgery that the 2015 revaluation would address the problems and reflect the massive fall in values since 2003-2007. We learned from the outgoing Loc Govt minister however that the 2015 revaluation has now been dropped. I wonder whether a class action would be needed to resolve the issue and expose the inconsistencies. Any body game to take this forward?

Rm-ca wrote: »

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 :-)

Furts

lincroft1710 wrote: »

In England and Scotland dwellings are valued for CT purposes based on their physical state at 1 Apr 1993 or date of last sale (if later) but using Apr 1991 values. In Wales Apr 2003 values, physical state Apr 2005.

Parliament purposely drafted the CT legislation so that homeowners would not be penalised for improving their homes.

Interesting! I am aware of a home, not in Wales, where the following is occurring.

The homeowner has done extensive alterations. The council would like to increase the banding by 3 or 4 bandings - this has not been decided and is up for discussion. The increase can only occur once the work is complete. The Valuer (not the council) is visiting every 3 months to monitor the work and waiting to act. The homeowner is saying I need a Building Regulations Completion Certificate to show work is finished. There is no Certificate, therefore you cannot re-band the house.

The onus is on the homeowner to seek the Certificate and if he chooses not to there appears to be nothing that can be enforced.

What experiences do other mse users have on this?

tim123456789

You may think that this rule on improvement is unfair, but there is no inconsistency here.

That is exactly how the rules are designed to work.

As to the new banding being a surprise, then this information should be in the council search.

And for re-banding due to lower prices, this will make absolutely no difference to which band 99% of houses are in.

Each band is set up to include a certain percentage of houses and if all house prices in a region have change by the same amount then all houses previously in a Band will still be there after a re-valuation

Furts

traeth1 wrote: »

We appealed after buying our house in 2003 and were caught out by the 2005 revaluation when the rebanding from E to F was back dated. We have recently discovered from correspondence with the Wales Valuation Office that the rules in Wales are inconsistent as shown by other posts here. For example, someone could improve their property knowing that they've increased the value but would not suffer paying any more council tax. This would fall on the poor unsuspecting mug who buys it next. We however bought our property in good faith only to be penalised at no fault of our own.
We have asked the BBC and ITV Wales consumer programmes to highlight these inconsistencies but there seems to be a conspiracy of silence in the Welsh media. Carwyn Jones told us in his surgery that the 2015 revaluation would address the problems and reflect the massive fall in values since 2003-2007. We learned from the outgoing Loc Govt minister however that the 2015 revaluation has now been dropped. I wonder whether a class action would be needed to resolve the issue and expose the inconsistencies. Any body game to take this forward?

I am sorry to say but this situation appears acceptable to me. One buys a home in Wales, knowing the rules, then complain afterwards?

I accept you may not have known the rules, but ignorance of the law is not a valid defence.

This is not meant to be harsh. A survey would show when an extension was built and highlight relevant bandings. This would be brought to your attention. If it was not, should this be your route to redress?