New Build - Council Tax banding

smk77

I'm looking at buy a new build property. I decided to check on the council tax banding by looking at the banding of same style that has already sold on the saa.gov.uk site (Scottish Assessers Association). It was a band G and sold for £325k according to zoopla.

I then had a look at the houses that had sold in the past year on Zoopla in the same town. The town is in Scotland with a population of about 10,000 people so a fair number of properties.

For each of the properties I got the CT band (using a bit of automation!) . Some interesting results!

New build sold for £272K was a band G but a house that was build 20+ years ago and sold for £340k was a band F.

All new builds sold for more than £272k (18 of them) apart from 1
were band G. There were 12 non-new build house selling for more than £272k but only 2 of these were band G. 2 were band E and the rest were band F.

Nationwide house price index is suggesting that houses in Scotland sold above £325k should be in band G.

CT banding now is such a joke. Why can't it be assessed on selling price like stamp duty?

Here's my findings for anyone interested

glasgowdan

Which town is it?

Our property is an older one, under 325k and band g. We are appealing it on the grounds of neighbouring properties being band f. It seems to be a very slow process, Scottish Assesors office must have some painfully slow and awkward processes.

lincroft1710

smk77 wrote: »

CT banding now is such a joke. Why can't it be assessed on selling price like stamp duty?

CT is based on selling prices, what a dwelling would sell for, if it had been in existence and on the market for sale as at 1 Apr 1991

smk77

lincroft1710 wrote: »

CT is based on selling prices, what a dwelling would sell for, if it had been in existence and on the market for sale as at 1 Apr 1991

Yes, I know that. But how do they work it out all those years later??

The house that sold for £337k and band F is comparable to the new ones. In fact, if the prices where the same, I'd chose the £337k one. I know exactly which house it is and where it is...

smk77

00ec25 wrote: »

it's Scotland so don't worry, I'm sure the SNP will find a way to make the English taxpayer subsidise it when they "correct" the way you are run

Completely off topic...I bet I pay more tax to Westminster than the average English tax payer....btw, I am English and I do...

00ec25

smk77 wrote: »

Yes, I know that. But how do they work it out all those years later??

by being professionally trained as valuers and following the relevant guidance. I am unfamiliar with the Scottish assessors website, so will list the way the VOA does it instead (incidentally Lincroft is ex VOA so knows rather a lot about how to do it)

http://manuals.voa.gov.uk/corporate/Publications/Manuals/CouncilTaxManual/council_tax_man_pn/toc.html

smk77 wrote: »

Completely off topic...

oh dear, what a pity, never mind. Open forum, anyone can post anything, as your "tables" have shown

smk77

00ec25 wrote: »

by being professionally trained as valuers and following the relevant guidance. I am unfamiliar with the Scottish assessors website, so will list the way the VOA does it instead (incidentally Lincroft is ex VOA so knows rather a lot about how to do it)

http://manuals.voa.gov.uk/corporate/Publications/Manuals/CouncilTaxManual/council_tax_man_pn/toc.html

oh dear, what a pity, never mind. Open forum, anyone can post anything, as your "tables" have shown

I'm merely pointing out what appears to be a bit of a discrepancy in the valuations of the new build houses. Knowing the area very well I am fairly confident that the new build for £272k (band G) would not have been worth the anything like the £340k (band F) had they been built at the same time. Lets not every question anything though...It's not like there has ever been any examples of Council tax banding being complete wrong..

I don't see what comments about the SNP and the English tax payer has to do with my post. Should we talk about cheese?

lincroft1710

If you buy the house, appeal the band if you think it's too high. It is possible that the some of the Band E and F houses are in too low a band

smk77

lincroft1710 wrote: »

If you buy the house, appeal the band if you think it's too high. It is possible that the some of the Band E and F houses are in too low a band

Still not bought as the house we were looking at has sold but better plot available...

I appreciate what you are saying but it's as though all older properties (not part of the new developments) are 1 band lower on average. We'll actually end up paying more than friends living in a 25 yr old house which is much bigger and clearly worth more based on not only size but location and space. I know the town well so I know how much houses are likely to be worth and those I would put in the same price bracket as this house or up to 50k more all seem to fall into band F.

I'll definitely appeal if I buy.

AnotherJoe

smk77 wrote: »

CT banding now is such a joke. Why can't it be assessed on selling price like stamp duty?
]

I’d have thought that was obvious, think about the mess that would result, with houses on widely differing bands merely due to the accident of when they sold, and huge houses that haven’t been sold since way back being in a lower banding than a new build studio flat.

paddycharlie

I purchased a new build in Glasgow last year and noticed the difference in banding with the existing surrounding housing being in lower bands