Incorrect Council Tax Band

Ablewell

Incorrect Council Tax Banding
I have checked out the council tax banding on my house to find that I am in the wrong band. I have been in touch with the valuation office who agree with my claim but want me to write to them with proof of how much I paid for the house (which fortunately, was in 1991). I haven't any paperwork relevant to the purchase price as it was 22 years ago! Can anyone suggest where I might try to get written evidence.

lincroft1710

Try your mortgage provider or the solicitor who acted for you in your purchase. This is an unusual request as the VOA should have details of your purchase, although occasionally some property sales slip through the net.

Ablewell

Thank for the advice, I had no luck with the Solicitor who didn't think he had records from 22 years ago. No joy with the mortgage company either, they said the records would be at the Land Registry. Finally I contacted the VOC who have now said that although my house was on the market in 1991 for £65,000, this was not the market value (the banding for D, which I am currently paying, starts at £68,000). The VOC have said that most of the houses in my road are D banding, although some have been extended. Do you think it is worth challenging?

Land_Registry

If you bought a registered property in 1991 then you can apply to Land Registry for a copy of the Transfer. The Transfer from the previous owner to you should contain the 'consideration' or purchase price.

If you wish to apply for a copy of the Transfer then follow the guidance provided in our online FAQ

If you do not have a copy of the registered title and/or are unsure as to the date of the Transfer then I would recommend contacting us by email using the online contact form.

If you complete that form with the relevant details, namely address/title number, name and rough date of Transfer. You can then state that you require a copy of the Transfer used when you bought the property and why.

We will investigate our records and if we have a copy we will advise you of the relevant details inc the date and how to apply for a copy. You can then complete form OC2 as explained in the FAQ.

The investigations and any subsequent application for a copy should each only take a few days.

NB - Our price paid data was only recorded from 1995 onwards so would not help in this scenario

lincroft1710

Ablewell wrote: »

Finally I contacted the VOC who have now said that although my house was on the market in 1991 for £65,000, this was not the market value.

Do you think it is worth challenging?

The VOA's statement suggests that either your home was in need of repair and the price you paid reflected this or it was a repossession.

CT bands cannot take into account a poor state of repair, dwellings have to be valued assuming they are in a reasonable state of repair. So they would look at the expected sale price of a dwelling in good repair and in such circumstances would ignore an actual sale price.

Similarly repossession sales do not meet the definition of open market value in CT legislation, as this is a "forced" sale rather than a "willing" sale.

If either of the above scenarios is applicable then usually there would be little point in taking the matter further. But given what you have reported the VOA has said in both your posts, I would suggest you ask why the VOA first say they think you have a case and why they think the price you paid was not the market value.

Ablewell

Thanks for the reply and the information, I may take this further with the Land Registry. Could you tell me who is responsible for determining the market value? VOA are saying my house was over £68,000 - the original estate agent said £65,000 (that's what it was on the market for) I actually paid £61,250........

lincroft1710

The VOA are responsible for determining the CT band, but they are not actually required to place a value on a dwelling, just decide which band is applicable. They will refer to any relevant sale of the subject dwelling plus any sales of nearby similar dwellings around 1 Apr 1991. They may disregard a sale where the price seem either too high or low compared with the prevailing price levels for that dwelling type, size and location.

In the circumstances I mentioned in my previous post, although the sale price would reflect the market value of a dwelling as it stood, the dwelling would not conform to the "model" required for CT valuation purposes.

Without knowing if there were reasons why your purchase price was only £61,250 and more importantly the actual completion date, it is difficult to say whether the Band D is correct or that the VOA have simply made a mistake.