Appeal council tax band?

johntaylor1980

Hi,

Looking for some advice on if I should appeal my council tax band or not?

A similar property to me is two bands lower?

FestiveJoy

Lots of good advice to read on that topic here to keep you busy this festive season
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change

:xmastree::xmastree::xmastree:

lincroft1710

If the Band C and the other Band E are incorrect they will be increased, rather than yours being decreased.

00ec25

dropping from an E to C sounds a tall order. what band are the 3 bed terraced? If they are B fair enough you may have a chance, but it sounds wrong if your 4 bed neighbour is also currently C and they are also C. I doubt you would be reduced in that case, more likely you'd be increased.

After all, in theory, the default Band D upon which the whole council tax system is pinned is supposed to be the "archetypical" 3 bed council house semi.

lincroft1710

You said in your opening post that the "valuation calculator" shows your home as Band E. If you have used either Halifax or NW property price indices, you should be aware that these tend to undervalue on 1991 prices, so Band E definitely seems correct for your home.

Your choice, but the odds are the other houses will be increased rather than yours decreased.

Nick_C

When you say the other properties are about the same size, it might be useful to look at their EPCs. These will give you a good indication of the inhabitable area, but I've seen them vary between identical properties as well!

Sounds like you probably have nothing to lose by appealing. Your neighbours may lose out but that's not your problem.

Wizzbang

I was in exactly the same sort of situation and got nowhere challenging mine. I wouldn't waste your time personally. There's a total discrepancy in my road with other 3 bed bungalows being in Band D and mine Band E. This goes wider across the estate I live on too. They weren't interested in telling me why some are one band and some are another, within 1/4 mile of each other. There's no logic to it.

You'll probably find that the one that's in a lower band has been lived in by the same person since new and they've improved it over time. That way they don't have to pay any increase.

martinsurrey

johntaylor1980 wrote: »

My property would have been valued at 96k in 1991 making it a band E.

The EPC are as follows:

My property: Band E 116sqm
Property 2: Band C 94sqm
Property 3 Band E 128sqm

These don't seem consistent to me. I know I might not win an appeal but have I got anything to lose by trying?

the wrath of your neighbours, it looks like they are under rated, your own research has shown that you are in the correct band, and they are UNDER banded, if they find out it was you who has cost them £000's they may not like you very much!

lincroft1710

If you know your band is correct, why waste everybody's time trying to get it lowered. £96K is well above Band E threshold. The Band C property is a lot smaller, so perhaps Band D. The other Band E is probably just into Band F, so may be increased.

I'll re-iterate yet again, your band appears correct so won't be reduced, the other 2 houses appear to be incorrect, so will probably be increased. Correct bands aren't reduced to put them inline with incorrect bands.

Nick_C

When the council sets the level of council tax, it starts by deciding how much money it is going to spend. It then works out what level of tax is needed to raise the money it needs, based on the number of properties in each valuation band in its area.

If some people are in the wrong band and are paying too little, then everyone else is paying too much.

Everyone should be paying their fair share, and if your appeal means your neighbours tax goes up then you shouldn't lose any sleep over it. If they are currently paying too little, then you are subsidising them.

lincroft1710

Nick_C wrote: »

If some people are in the wrong band and are paying too little, then everyone else is paying too much.

Although you are right in principle, it is doubtful that in practice rebanding the neighbours would make even a penny difference in everybody else's CT bill.

The correct way for the OP to approach this, is not to appeal, but to inform the VOA of the discrepancies in the banding. If the OP appeals, the time and effort will be spent in defending the band first and looking at rebanding the neighbours second.