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Council tax rebanding thoughts...
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wimper
Posts: 4 Newbie
So I need some advice!
I’ve recently bought a property and when the sale was going through, we were advised by the daughter of the vendor (she was looking after the sale) that she thought her parents were paying over the odds on council tax. The house is currently classified as Band G (£160K-£320K). I’ve been doing a little digging and have reviewed the website section about council tax reclassification, and think I have a reasonable case to answer, but wanted some opinions.
We completed on the house for £425K in December. Using the Nationwide house price calculator, it suggests that the house would have been worth £130k (1991 Q1) or £132.5K (1991 Q2). With April being right on the boundary of Q1 and Q2, I’ve listed both figures to see that there wasn’t a major movement.
Looking at neighbours houses on the street, the main problem is that they are all individually designed houses, so it is a little difficult to check value vs. However, houses of a similar size are in the same banding.
My gut says that I have everything to gain, from trying to get it reclassified, with little risk. The band down is £120K to £160K, so from the valuations I am comfortably below the top of the band. With the current band I am in, I think there is little chance of being pushed towards the upper limit of the banding, so the risk of increasing my council tax is very small.
Finally, the main thing that is making me think I should be able to sneak down a band is that when we bought the property, the bottom half of the garden was sold separately. I believe that this would affect the valuation - I know the vendor changed the price when they were trying to sell with the land, so the same must be true of its 1991 value. If the house sold for the value (or near enough) that it was listed for, with the additional land, it would put it in the correct banding currently.
Thoughts?
I’ve recently bought a property and when the sale was going through, we were advised by the daughter of the vendor (she was looking after the sale) that she thought her parents were paying over the odds on council tax. The house is currently classified as Band G (£160K-£320K). I’ve been doing a little digging and have reviewed the website section about council tax reclassification, and think I have a reasonable case to answer, but wanted some opinions.
We completed on the house for £425K in December. Using the Nationwide house price calculator, it suggests that the house would have been worth £130k (1991 Q1) or £132.5K (1991 Q2). With April being right on the boundary of Q1 and Q2, I’ve listed both figures to see that there wasn’t a major movement.
Looking at neighbours houses on the street, the main problem is that they are all individually designed houses, so it is a little difficult to check value vs. However, houses of a similar size are in the same banding.
My gut says that I have everything to gain, from trying to get it reclassified, with little risk. The band down is £120K to £160K, so from the valuations I am comfortably below the top of the band. With the current band I am in, I think there is little chance of being pushed towards the upper limit of the banding, so the risk of increasing my council tax is very small.
Finally, the main thing that is making me think I should be able to sneak down a band is that when we bought the property, the bottom half of the garden was sold separately. I believe that this would affect the valuation - I know the vendor changed the price when they were trying to sell with the land, so the same must be true of its 1991 value. If the house sold for the value (or near enough) that it was listed for, with the additional land, it would put it in the correct banding currently.
Thoughts?
0
Comments
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It is doubtful if the garden size was taken into account when the house was first banded. But £425K in Dec 2016 does not sound like a Band G.If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales0
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