Council tax improvement indicator

calydon

Hello,

We completed in April. Our property has an improvement indicator on the VOA site.

2 questions... first - how long does it take for any change to go through? 8 months is a long time!! Second, do they back date the change to date of purchase? I'm squirrelling away the difference each month between Band D and Band F (which is what it probably should be) but it would be nice to know if I need to be doing that!!

Thanks
Calydon

calydon

Thanks for replying, I've been doing a bit of reading in the interim though (better than chatting to in-laws) and just came back here to say I'd found this in the council tax manual (I'm in England) which makes it look to me like the banding changes from the date the VOA update their lists rather than date of purchase. Have I read it wrong?

http://cti.voa.gov.uk/corporate/publications/Manuals/CouncilTaxManual/council_tax_man_pn/h-ct-man-pn3.html


3. There has been a "material increase" and "relevant transaction".

Example.!A property has a new kitchen installed on 23 November 2006and a swimming pool added in February 2007 before being sold on 14 June 2007.

When valuing the property to decide whether its banding should be increased, its size and layout and all other physical factors require consideration as they existed at 14 June 2007 (the day on which the sale was completed). Therefore when deciding what the property would have sold for at 1/4/91 it is necessary to assume that it had both the kitchen extension and the swimming pool at this time.

Effective date: date of schedule alteration (post 1 April 2007).

00ec25

your quote simply confirms what CIS said. The effective date will be the date the VOA set it as - normally that would be the date of sale completion because that is the "relevant transaction".

what you have quoted is simply illustrating that the date at which the improvements were physically made is not what counts, it is the later date of sale that matters. Which in your case is (now) 8 months ago.

calydon

CIS's comment has gone... the exmaple doesn't say it's the date of the relevant transaction though, it says it's the date of 'schedule alteration'. What does that phrase mean?

Tom99

Just because your property has an improvement indicator it does not mean your Band will change. If fact only 20% of Band's change. Here is the reply to a FOI request I submitted to the VO on this subject:

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"Dear Tom[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) VOA ref: 11789315.1/CEO[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Thank you for your request received on 3 January 2018 which we are treating as a request for information under the FOIA.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Your request for information Under the FOIA asks:[/FONT]
“[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]When a residential property is improved or extended the Council Tax Band is not reviewed until a subsequent sale, instead an ‘Improvement Indicator' is placed against the property record.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]1 — How many residential properties in England and Wales currently have improvement indicators against them?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]2 — When these properties with improvement indicators sell, what percentage of them result in a Band increase and what percentage stay in the same Band?”[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Our Response to your request:[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]As required by section 1(1)(a) of the Act I can confirm that the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) holds information falling within the scope of your request.[/FONT]

1. [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]As at 31 December 2017 there were 1,646,632 dwellings in England and Wales identified by an improvement indicator.[/FONT]
2. [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Our records show that 20% of properties with an improvement indicator were subject to a band increase, and 80% had no increase in band, across the 1993 Council Tax Valuation Lists for England and the 1993 and 2005 Council Tax Valuation Lists for Wales.[/FONT]
   [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Please note the overall percentage figure includes cases from the 1993 List in Wales that had an improvement indicator and were actioned as part of the 2005 revaluation[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Yours sincerely[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Alex Hill Director of Information & Analysis" [/FONT]

AdrianC

calydon wrote: »

We completed in April. Our property has an improvement indicator on the VOA site.

Still?

2 questions... first - how long does it take for any change to go through?

We moved in to a place with an II flag, and had the updated (increased...) band within a month or so.

calydon

AdrianC wrote: »

Still?

Yep, very much so, I check it regularly.

The work done has approx doubled the size of the property so I doubt we'll get away with no change when they do evaluate it :-(

00ec25

calydon wrote: »

CIS's comment has gone... the exmaple doesn't say it's the date of the relevant transaction though, it says it's the date of 'schedule alteration'. What does that phrase mean?

the VOA sets the effective date for the change - that is the date the schedule is altered, since it is the schedule which lists what band each property is in

the relevant transaction is what triggers the requirement to review the band

the example you quoted simply serves to show that the date the works were completed is not the determinant for when the banding is (or is not) altered. As I said, the example is given to show that where the works pre date the relevant transaction, then there is no review, since no relevant transaction has taken place to trigger the review. Only once a relevant transaction has occurred will the review be backdated to the date of the transaction, not the date of the works.

it is good you setting aside the funds, but if the delay is bothering you why not simply the VOA instead of asking the internet?

Tom99

00ec25 wrote: »

The VOA sets the effective date for the change - that is the date the schedule is altered, since it is the schedule which lists what band each property is in.
The relevant transaction is what triggers the requirement to review the band.
The example you quoted simply serves to show that the date the works were completed is not the determinant for when the banding is (or is not) altered. As I said, the example is given to show that where the works pre date the relevant transaction, then there is no review, since no relevant transaction has taken place to trigger the review. Only once a relevant transaction has occurred will the review be backdated to the date of the transaction, not the date of the works.
It is good you setting aside the funds, but if the delay is bothering you why not simply phone the VOA instead of asking the internet?

Spot on. A 5 min phone call tomorrow will answer your question.

Telephone (England)
03000 501501

Telephone (Wales)
03000 505505

Stesal

Hello
recently i found a Improvement Indicator against my property of which i purchased in 1999. Seeing as I haven't made any alterations I queried this first with my Council & then the VOA. After 6 months of toing & froing Finally today I got an answer? It is an error? However, the VOA say it cannot be removed until I sell it? How wrong is that? Their mistake but now my problem of explaining to potential buyers & convincing them that the VOA made an error?? Why can it simply be removed as it is their mistake --not mine.