Council Tax Band Reviewed Upwards

HalfFull

Hi all,
This message is on behalf of my parents in law.
They received a letter from VOA last week saying their council tax band was under review. They have lived in the house since 2006 and they haven't made improvements to the house. This week they have received a council tax bill and they have gone up a band, D to E, £300 more. The house is still listed as a D on the VOA website.

If the house was worth 250K the MSE page says it would have been a band E in 1991, but at 245K would have been a band D, so they do look close. However they had the house on the market this summer and the best offer they got was more like £220K.

Although there has been some noise about re-banding everyone recently, I though it had been abandoned. Are they allowed to do this?

Thanks in advance

HF

CIS

Re-banding on sale or transfer of ownership is still ongoing - it was the England wide re-banding that was stopped (they re-banded in Wales and then stopped).

Its possible that a previous re-banding has been missed or they have found an error in their records as to the banding and corrected it - the only way to find out is to contact the valuation office and ask them.

lincroft1710

They should have received a notification from the VOA informing them of the band increase. This is quite separate from the CT bill.

I'm a bit rusty on timescales, but I understood that when a band was increased the website entry would be amended at the same time. I would echo CIS in that they contact the VOA on Tuesday and ask what is actually going on.

As CIS also says the band can be increased or reduced at any time, and if the band has in fact increased, they have the right of appeal and if the matter is not resolved to their satisfaction, to ask the independent Valuation Tribunal to determine the band.

MarkNN

I've had exactly the same letter today -"Review of council tax band - increase" and am equally gobsmacked. In this case it is from E to F.

There's been no change of ownership, or prompting from me for a review, so this looks like the Valuation Office randomly going through old files and deciding to reband. Without any info on why this has been done, or the basis of the revaluation, it's going to be hard to challenge.

I'll be contacting the VO about this and will report back.

mark

MarkNN

Called the local VO. They say that based on the previous sale figure for the house (£138k in 1992, London location) the house should have been banded F in 1991. Therefore they are correcting an error (albeit one that has stood for 22 years). They gave me a long list of houses, including my two neighbours, who have also been rebanded on the same basis.

My interpretation is that all council tax bandings are being reviewed to see if they can be increased - a stealth tax increase. It seems impossible to appeal against this - the MSE calculator suggests that the house should indeed have been banded F in 1991. It is however a clear breach of the government's promise not to implement comprehensive rebanding, as that is evidently what is happening. I expect many more of you to receive these letters!

lincroft1710

MarkNN wrote: »

My interpretation is that all council tax bandings are being reviewed to see if they can be increased - a stealth tax increase. It is however a clear breach of the government's promise not to implement comprehensive rebanding, as that is evidently what is happening. I expect many more of you to receive these letters!

For the VOA to review every CT band in the country, it would need an army of people it simply just does not have. Whatever the pronouncements of whoever is in power, the VOA has a statutory duty to ensure that CT bands are correct.

My guess is that a neighbour or perhaps someone in a similar property in the next road in Band F, saw yours and others in Band E
and asked for a reduction quoting yours. The VOA investigations revealed the complainant's band was in fact correct and the Band E houses needed to be increased.

Although you are now faced with an increased CT bill, you will have saved several thousand pounds over the last 20 years by being in the wrong band.

britbloke

I recently tried to get my property rebanded down to an A from a B. I did all of the checks including check that a neighbour's property (EXACTLY IDENTICAL to mine), and it showed they were an A. I then checked three calculators who estimated the value of £27,000 in 1991, way less than the £40k threshold.


Not only did the VOA reject it without explaining why, (and with no opportunity to challenge), but they have put my neighbour's property up to a B. He is not happy. Worst of all, he is a friend.

I now feel guilty, (although it was with the best intention to help others reclaim as well), and feel that I should give him the £150 extra it's going to cost him, although I have paid that £150 extra a year since 2004.

lincroft1710

britbloke wrote: »

Not only did the VOA reject it without explaining why, (and with no opportunity to challenge), but they have put my neighbour's property up to a B. He is not happy. Worst of all, he is a friend.

But if the VOA increased your neighbour's band within the past 6 months, he can appeal and if he is not satisfied by the VOA's explanation why these homes are in Band B, he can ask the independent Valuation Tribunal to determine the band.

diceydeb

Half the properties in my street are B including mine and the valuation for most in 1991 is way under 40,000 according to Nationwide and Zoopla so we should all have been As . I too have asked for a check but they said I would need to show that identical homes to mine were in a lower band. In my opinion they should just look at mine on the grounds that mine is too high.... waiting to hear back from them.