Council tax banding rip-off

foxyruby

Hi moneysavers

Two months ago I bought a house that was in council tax band D. Two months later, I have just received a letter from the council tax department saying they're rebanding it as E because of some improvements that were done to the house at the end of the 90s and in 2003. Basically two bedrooms were added upstairs, and the kitchen was made a little larger, so it went from a 2-bed house to a 4-bed house.

I know that council tax banding is based on the property's value in 1991. The bands are quite wide though, and I'm not convinced that the two added bedrooms would have pushed my house into the next tax band. Checking sold prices for 4-bed houses in my area is usually simple, but not for 1991! The land registry didn't start keeping a register of properties' sold prices until 1995. I phoned them to see if they could give me the info another way, but even their house price index didn't start until 1995. Try as I might, I can't find anything to help me appeal against this.

Is it me, or do you also smell a rat in this? Why do council tax bands rely on values in 1991, 4 years before any member of the public can check them and use them to appeal their banding? Do any of you know of any other way to check this? I'm currently contacting local libraries for newspaper information, but that is not looking promising and it's making me angry that this is so hard and time-consuming. I've just lost both my parents within a fortnight of each other and I have enough things to do without coming across all these obstacles.

Whether I'm ultimately right or wrong in my own council tax banding case, shouldn't the government be more transparent with this? If any of you feel the same way as I do, couldn't we all get together and press the government into changing the council tax band reference year from 1991 to 1995, or better still, 2000, so that we all have a chance to ensure we get a fair council tax band rating?

What do you all think? :mad:

HappyMJ

If you go to your local library you can read the newspapers from 1991. It'll give you an idea of prices. Not exact but it should be close enough.

foxyruby

Thanks! I'm currently exchanging emails with my local libraries at the moment, and if I find the property sections for my area in 1991 they'lll give me a rough guide to prices then. However, they are going to be asking prices, not actual sold prices. Actual sold prices are irrefutable evidence, no council tax department could deny them. Which is why I think we should all press for the year of reference to be changed from 1991 to 1995, when actual sold prices became available to the public.

00ec25

I am afraid you are being blinded by your own emotions

its set at 1991 because that is when CT was introduced and when the properties were banded the info was easily available

I understand your point that if the records began 1995 then you can make your own case if that was the reference date but it isn't and why should it be? Changing to 1995 is no more relevant than saying the whole country should be rebanded using today's current rates - that would be political suicide in England hence it has not happened

you have gone from 2 bed to 4 bed with a larger kitchen (so I assume overall footprint) Given that band D is "in theory" the default rate based on a 3 bed terrace/semi then you have moved up by only ONE band which seems a ridiculous thing to be objecting to given the house has doubled in size and is in a radicalkly difereent market segement to a 2 bed and that there are other things in your life which you should be focused on

CIS

Actual sold prices are irrefutable evidence, no council tax department could deny them

The banding of the property has nothing to do with the council so the sale prices mean nothing to them. The council can only use the band set by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA).

foxyruby

00ec25 wrote: »

I am afraid you are being blinded by your own emotions

its set at 1991 because that is when CT was introduced and when the properties were banded the info was easily available

I understand your point that if the records began 1995 then you can make your own case if that was the reference date but it isn't and why should it be? Changing to 1995 is no more relevant than saying the whole country should be rebanded using today's current rates - that would be political suicide in England hence it has not happened

you have gone from 2 bed to 4 bed with a larger kitchen (so I assume overall footprint) Given that band D is "in theory" the default rate based on a 3 bed terrace/semi then you have moved up by only ONE band which seems a ridiculous thing to be objecting to given the house has doubled in size and is in a radicalkly difereent market segement to a 2 bed and that there are other things in your life which you should be focused on

Thanks for explaining that council tax was introduced in 1991 and that's why the bands are based on values at that date. Nevertheless, it's impossible for the public to ascertain true property values on this year, so why shouldn't it be changed to make it easier on us all. Councils and governments change everything else, why can't they change this? Or at least ask the public's opinion on it?

Of course I accept that it's now a 4-bed instead of a 2-bed. But it's not a huge house, it's a bungalow with the bedrooms in the roof and I have good reason to think that it was in the wrong band to begin with.

Forgive me but I feel your judgemental tone is a little harsh and patronising. I am certainly not being over-emotional, I feel I'm extremely balanced and clear-headed in view of my recent experiences. If you'd just been handed a £7,500 bill for two funerals and no funds to pay them, I imagine you might want to check that an extra £365 per year in council tax is correct.

theGrinch

Your council will urgently need your extra council tax so as they can afford to call the speaking clock as the Ministry of Defence was reported doing today.

vivatifosi

What happens with houses is that they are revalued when they change hands. If you looked up the house on the VOA website at the time of purchase, it would probably have had a symbol by it indicating that it was being revalued. So the previous owners can have done all the improvements that they wanted, it is always the next owner that picks up the increase.

If you want to challenge this, you can still do so, but you need to base your search on what the 1991 price was of what you have now.

foxyruby

Thanks Vivatosi. All roads still lead back to 1991, and only a very time-consuming search back through newspaper archives to try to find a needle in a haystack, I guess.

00ec25

foxyruby wrote: »

Forgive me but I feel your judgemental tone is a little harsh and patronising. I am certainly not being over-emotional,

I am sorry for your loss , I too lost my parents within months of each other and it was hard to move on from that for years afterwards BUT

you are the one who titled the thread rip off , hardly wording chosen by a balanced and clear headed person

you are blinded by the idea that your problem of a one band increase would be solved if your property was rebased to 1995 value. You are ignoring that to do such an exercise everyone in the whole country would be revalued and this would mean 100s of thousands of people would be rebanded as a consequence (like as happened in Wales) and that would be so unpopular none of the political parties has the balls to do it at the moment, even with all the austerity measures currently underway

having just moved in you do (as i assume you know) have a 6 month window of opportunity to appeal. have you read through the MSE guide on how to do it?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change

macman

A national reval would, to put it bluntly, lose more votes than it gains. No government (of any colour) therefore has the political will to do it, so it's been shelved-probably indefinitely.