Council Tax Band Appeal

jean_clawed

Hi

After reading on here about the hundreds of incorrectly banded properties I had a look at my house.

I am on a 2002 build estate in a terrace block of 4 houses (2, 3 bed room houses and 2, 2 bedroom houses) The 3 beds are on the outside of the block and the 2 beds are sandwiched between.

I am currently in band D and the 2 beds in my block are in C.

I checked my neighbours houses, older victorian 3 bed terrace, and they are all in band C and the 2 bed terraces are in band b, all in accordance with the 1991 ruling.

The nearest band C victorian house is approx 2m away from my property. on the other side of a small alleyway.

I decided to challenge the banding of my property as currently the Victorian houses are actually worth approx 10k more than my house (according to several estate agent web sites)

I submitted my request via telephone to the Valuation Office and they said they would review my data.

Got a letter today stating that they are satisfied that back in 1991 if my house had been built then, it would of been a higher value than the 3 bedroom Terraced houses I have used as an example.

I did a bit more research and I cannot find ANY new built property in my area for 1991. I still find this point the Valuation office gave as unsatisfactory as it is almost impossible to prove what they are saying. Also especially as the Victorian terrace houses are valued more than my property and have been since 2002 when my house was built.

Do I have a point for an Appeal or am I heading for a failure!

Thanks in advance

lincroft1710

jean_clawed wrote: »

I did a bit more research and I cannot find ANY new built property in my area for 1991. I still find this point the Valuation office gave as unsatisfactory as it is almost impossible to prove what they are saying. Also especially as the Victorian terrace houses are valued more than my property and have been since 2002 when my house was built.

Do I have a point for an Appeal or am I heading for a failure!

The VOA will not use 19th century houses as comparisons with 21st century houses. In many areas in 1991 Victorian houses were achieving much less than similar size modern properties, it was only when prices started recovering around 1997 that the prices of some Victorian houses "took off".

The VOA may well have 1991 evidence which supports Band D, but unless you made your appeal for a band reduction within the 6 month time limit, this evidence will not be disclosed to you.