Rates in Northern Ireland

james7bell

Hi guys.

I am wondering if anyone would have any experience of a situation I find myself in.

We moved house in June 2013, a few months after that we had a guy call at the house asking about paying rates, i told him we had just recently moved in, he asked for the old house address and updated a handheld device with our current details. Anyway, we never heard anything since and now we have received a lovely bill in for £2000 in backdated rates.

Its a new development we live in and I have heard that you don't start paying rates until it is completed, or roads have been finished and street lighting is working - something along those lines. Ive searched for information on this and cant find it.

The development was completed a few months back, with the roads being finished around summer time.

Has anyone used this before regarding rates or is it all all just hearsay.

Thanks

James

saverbuyer

james7bell wrote: »

Hi guys.

I am wondering if anyone would have any experience of a situation I find myself in.

We moved house in June 2013, a few months after that we had a guy call at the house asking about paying rates, i told him we had just recently moved in, he asked for the old house address and updated a handheld device with our current details. Anyway, we never heard anything since and now we have received a lovely bill in for £2000 in backdated rates.

Its a new development we live in and I have heard that you don't start paying rates until it is completed, or roads have been finished and street lighting is working - something along those lines. Ive searched for information on this and cant find it.

The development was completed a few months back, with the roads being finished around summer time.

Has anyone used this before regarding rates or is it all all just hearsay.

Thanks

James

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you'll have to pay the bill.

Your rates liability start for the day you move in.

steveymp

The way I see it is the onus is on the house owner to contact the rates department as soon as they move in. I did this in 1996 when I moved into a new development which was also unfinished and paid rates from the day of occupation. I don't think you get exemption on rates when a development is unfinished as you still have working services to you home.

I cancelled by phone when I moved out and made sure I was paid up to date and supplied them with the names of the buyers.

When moving into my new home I again contacted the rates dept. to inform them and get the bill at the correct time.

Probably not the news you want to hear, but we all have to pay rates as it is another tax basically. You could try phoning them to discuss instalment payments as less of a burden.

Good Luck.

Old_Git

james7bell wrote: »

Hi guys.

I am wondering if anyone would have any experience of a situation I find myself in.

We moved house in June 2013, a few months after that we had a guy call at the house asking about paying rates, i told him we had just recently moved in, he asked for the old house address and updated a handheld device with our current details. Anyway, we never heard anything since and now we have received a lovely bill in for £2000 in backdated rates.

Its a new development we live in and I have heard that you don't start paying rates until it is completed, or roads have been finished and street lighting is working - something along those lines. Ive searched for information on this and cant find it.

The development was completed a few months back, with the roads being finished around summer time.

Has anyone used this before regarding rates or is it all all just hearsay.

Thanks

James

I think you may get some reduction for unfinished roads and lack of lighting .I know someone who told me they got a reduction ,but you still have some to pay .
Phone your local LPS office.

ger27

I moved into a new development in May this year and my rates were calculated from that date. The development was still under construction.
It took about 6 months before I actually got a bill but I knew one would come eventually so I had put cash away for it.
I had come from UK mainland and was used to paying council tax + water charges so was pleased that the costs over here were quite a bit less!

tonweight

The same thing happened to me except it took them 3 years to value the property and another 9 months to send out a bill which was the wrong side of £4k. This was despite numerous phone calls requesting a valuation & offers to pay on account which you cant do because you dont have a ratepayer ID or account number. After about 2 years I was advised that they were short of valuers and my house was on a valuation waiting list and would eventually be rated, again I offered to start paying and was told to put the money in an account for the day the bill arrived. Well the bill did arrive with all sorts of court action if I didnt pay within 28 days etc. I contacted the payments dept told them i couldnt pay and this was their fault for the poor service and that despite attempts to contact them & pay they ignored. The outcome is they agreed to me paying them an extra £35 per month to clear the debt. Yes it will take more than 10 years but it wasnt my fault.

dsab

tonweight wrote: »

The same thing happened to me except it took them 3 years to value the property and another 9 months to send out a bill which was the wrong side of £4k. This was despite numerous phone calls requesting a valuation & offers to pay on account which you cant do because you dont have a ratepayer ID or account number. After about 2 years I was advised that they were short of valuers and my house was on a valuation waiting list and would eventually be rated, again I offered to start paying and was told to put the money in an account for the day the bill arrived. Well the bill did arrive with all sorts of court action if I didnt pay within 28 days etc. I contacted the payments dept told them i couldnt pay and this was their fault for the poor service and that despite attempts to contact them & pay they ignored. The outcome is they agreed to me paying them an extra £35 per month to clear the debt. Yes it will take more than 10 years but it wasnt my fault.

I don't get that. If you knew that you would have to pay eventually, why didn't you set the money aside straight away. Doesn't matter how long it took, you knew from Day 1 and failed to make any preparations.

Ticked

dsab wrote: »

I don't get that. If you knew that you would have to pay eventually, why didn't you set the money aside straight away. Doesn't matter how long it took, you knew from Day 1 and failed to make any preparations.

Easier said than done. Lots of things are sensible with hindsight. Don't ask how I know.

Possom

Do you simply write a letter to the Land & Property Services to inform them that you have bought a house on a certain date and want to register to pay domestic rates from that date?

Or do you have to fill in particular form? I couldn't find such a form on the Land & Property Services website.

Thanks!

irishjohn

dsab wrote: »

I don't get that. If you knew that you would have to pay eventually, why didn't you set the money aside straight away. Doesn't matter how long it took, you knew from Day 1 and failed to make any preparations.

But why should the new owner have to try and put a valuation on the house, and then try and work out what its equivalent would have been in 2004/5 when they last set the benchmark and then calculate what the cost will be using the rate struck by the local council for the current year?

LPS should have the calculation matrix readily available - and they could easily feed in the purchase price and work out a charge based on that purchase price - that would give an approximate figure to charge on account. The bill could then be issued once the valuation takes place and include either a refund for overpayment or an invoice for underpayment - along with a proposal for payment. But why should the LPS go to all that trouble? Oh yes - its what they were set up to do isn't it?

irishjohn

Possom wrote: »

Do you simply write a letter to the Land & Property Services to inform them that you have bought a house on a certain date and want to register to pay domestic rates from that date?

Or do you have to fill in particular form? I couldn't find such a form on the Land & Property Services website.

Thanks!

Here is the website with details for occupying or leaving a property

http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/index/information-and-services/property-and-housing/rates/your-rate-bill/occupying-and-leaving-a-property.htm