Council Tax error?

AlexMac

Assuming you'll eventually just grit your teeth and bear the extra cost... be careful before trying to get your banding reduced.

Even if your neighbours banding differs, which, as someone above says, you can check online.

Mates of ours experienced a recent banding increase. On grousing to the Council as to why, they discovered that an unknown neighbour, on discovering inconsistency in that their house was banded higher, had appealed; with the outcome that the Council re-banded the whole terrace... one notch UP!

The Council wouldn't even grass up the homeowner who had rocked the boat in case they got shunned locally, doh.

And when I checked the Online CT register I see that my house has been flagged for re-valuation when it next sells; presumably because we involved Council Building Control Inspectors when convertig a garage and effectively adding a room and en-suite; GRRR...

But that won't be my problem, as we'll declare the (certified) improvements (albeit not the sting in the tail for the new buyer!). As they say in Rome- Caveat Emptor.

Housebuyer1608

Haha wasnt planning on going to the council tbh its nothing to do with them really.

Just frustrating we were told one thing and now a few weeks in finding out it wasnt correct.

We triple checked everything else before we bought, never thought we wouldve had to have the council band re checked! Aw well lesson learnt i guess!

Thanks for everyones comments!

lincroft1710

AlexMac wrote: »

Mates of ours experienced a recent banding increase. On grousing to the Council as to why, they discovered that an unknown neighbour, on discovering inconsistency in that their house was banded higher, had appealed; with the outcome that the Council re-banded the whole terrace... one notch UP!

They were lucky. I'm ex VOA (the organisation that actually assesses houses for CT in England Wales) and some years ago a woman complained her band was 2 bands lower than identical houses in the same and a neighbouring street. It was clear from sales evidence that her band was correct, so the identical houses were increased by 2 bands

The Council wouldn't even grass up the homeowner who had rocked the boat in case they got shunned locally, doh.

No way should a council reveal the source

And when I checked the Online CT register I see that my house has been flagged for re-valuation when it next sells; presumably because we involved Council Building Control Inspectors when convertig a garage and effectively adding a room and en-suite; GRRR...

Of course you should have contacted Building Control. When you came to sell and you didn't have a sign off from them, it would cause a lot of problems. The CT system is actually better for owners who improve their houses as under the old domestic rating system, the increase was immediate and the existing owner would have to pay more.

But that won't be my problem, as we'll declare the (certified) improvements (albeit not the sting in the tail for the new buyer!). As they say in Rome- Caveat Emptor.

...........

McKneff

Hoow much is tne annual difference

elverson

Housebuyer1608 wrote: »

Haha wasnt planning on going to the council tbh its nothing to do with them really.

Just frustrating we were told one thing and now a few weeks in finding out it wasnt correct.

We triple checked everything else before we bought, never thought we wouldve had to have the council band re checked! Aw well lesson learnt i guess!

Thanks for everyones comments!

Good advice and what you want to hear are not always the same thing.

silvercar

ReadingTim wrote: »

What are you hoping to achieve? Assuming it's banded correctly, the Council won't change the banding just because the vendor was dishonest or mistaken, so that possibility is a non-starter. Next, the author of the home report could be liable if they failed to check or otherwise got it wrong, but what's the limit of their liability?

Furthermore, what loss have you suffered? You haven't suffered anything in respect of the property value, and I'm not sure what the position is with regard to consequential loss, ie the higher council tax bills going forward. Finally, as no-one knows how long you're going to live there, any such loss cannot be quantified.

So, other an omission of the error, apology and perhaps a refund of the home report price and maybe a couple of hundred quid, what do you think can be done?

Ask your solicitor. They should know who is responsible.

Although your loss can't be quantified without a crystal ball, it is not hard to estimate the average length of time someone remains in a property.

davidmcn

silvercar wrote: »

Although your loss can't be quantified without a crystal ball, it is not hard to estimate the average length of time someone remains in a property.

I suspect one valid way of viewing any loss would be to assess the difference in open market value between identical Band B and Band D properties. Which I suspect is negligible - I haven't heard of people generally ascribing different values based on the council tax band.

Also there are proposals to replace council tax in Scotland completely, so any "loss" might only last a few years anyway.

silvercar

I suspect one valid way of viewing any loss would be to assess the difference in open market value between identical Band B and Band D properties. Which I suspect is negligible - I haven't heard of people generally ascribing different values based on the council tax band.

I agree. I was referring more to the actual difference in council tax.

elonii

This happened to me recently, I thought my property was a Band F and it's a Band G. Totally my fault for not double checking.

I'm now appealing the band with the council, because having looked into it using the great info on the Money Saving Expert website, I believe it was mis-banded at the time of valuation. Based on comparable houses in my street and the valuation checker it appears to me it was a borderline high Band E or low Band F. I'm now waiting to hear back!

Perhaps it might be worth you looking into your neighbours bands just in case you do have something worthwhile appealing. It may just make this situation less annoying if you manage to alter things.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change