Council Tax Differences

DaveH1961

Hi 
Ive searched for this on the forums but not found anything. I rent a 2 bed flat (alone) and the council tax is band C, £101pm. Talking to a friend who lives in a 3 bed link detached property (band D) and is charged £112pm. I've checked the bands etc with MSE's council tax page and the band appears to be correct. I find the difference between the two very small considering the two properties and I wonder if there is anything I could do about it?
Thanks for any replies!
(P.S. I couldn't find a category for council tax, so used the nearest description)

Jeremy535897

It is for councils to decide what tax to charge for each band. In my area, Band C is £146 and Band D is £165 a month, so you are lucky yours is so low. If you mean that you think your property should be more than one band lower than your friend's, that is a different issue.

p00hsticks

Jeremy535897 said:

It is for councils to decide what tax to charge for each band.

Not quite - councils decide how much money they need and therefore how much they need to raise in council tax, but how that is divided up between the different bands is fixed and not at the councils discretion (at least in England, not sure about Wales and Scotland).

The council fixes what to charge a property in band D and the rest follows on automatically.

Band A is charged at 6/9ths of what Band D is charged

Band B is charged at 7/9ths of what Band D is charged

Band C is charged at 8/9ths of what Band D is charged

Band E is charged at 11/9ths of what Band D is charged

Band F is charged at 13/9ths of what Band D is charged

Band G is charged at 15/9ths of what Band D is charged

Band H is charged at 18/9ths (i.e. twice) of what Band D is charged

You also need to bear in mind that the make up of some council areas in terms of the spread of bands will be very different to others (for example, in Northern towns with a predominance of 'two up two down' terraces the vast majority of properties are likely to fall into Band A, whereas the more affluent boroughs of London will probably nearly all be in Band H) and this will also impact on what the Band D rating needs to be to raise the required revenue. . 

Jeremy535897

p00hsticks said:

Jeremy535897 said:

It is for councils to decide what tax to charge for each band.

Not quite - councils decide how much money they need and therefore how much they need to raise in council tax, but how that is divided up between the different bands is fixed and not at the councils discretion (at least in England, not sure about Wales and Scotland).

The council fixes what to charge a property in band D and the rest follows on automatically.

Band A is charged at 6/9ths of what Band D is charged

Band B is charged at 7/9ths of what Band D is charged

Band C is charged at 8/9ths of what Band D is charged

Band E is charged at 11/9ths of what Band D is charged

Band F is charged at 13/9ths of what Band D is charged

Band G is charged at 15/9ths of what Band D is charged

Band H is charged at 18/9ths (i.e. twice) of what Band D is charged

You also need to bear in mind that the make up of some council areas in terms of the spread of bands will be very different to others (for example, in Northern towns with a predominance of 'two up two down' terraces the vast majority of properties are likely to fall into Band A, whereas the more affluent boroughs of London will probably nearly all be in Band H) and this will also impact on what the Band D rating needs to be to raise the required revenue. . 

With all the precepts tacked on for police, fire, parish etc, it isn't this simple. I didn't go into all of this there's nothing you can do about it, and I don't think it's the real question anyway.

lincroft1710

Are you claiming Single Person Discount?

Also some taxpayers pay over 10 months (no payments Feb and March) whereas others pay over 12 months, thus the monthly payment. So those paying over 10 months will pay more per month than those paying over 12 months

davonport

There are approximately 90 houses in my road, they are all Band F apart from 2  one of which is Band E and mine is Band G.
Current Valuations range from £725,000 to 1.2 Million,  my house was valued recently for £750,000. for Equity release purposes.  The house next door to mine was sold 3 years ago following a major rebuilding project and is now a seven bedroom house with no Council banding change, once again on the market for £950,000 and still band F. I have in the past asked the Valuation office in London to look into the discrepancy and their only response is to refer back to 1991 and my appeal time to six months.    
 

davonport

Even on this site I can not find the value of my house in 1991, possible to 1991 values?

macman

Band	Value at 1 April 1991
A	up to £40,000
B	£40,001 to £52,000
C	£52,001 to £68,000
D	£68,001 to £88,000
E	£88,001 to £120,000
F	£120,001 to £160,000
G	£160,001 to £320,000
H	more than £320,000

lincroft1710

davonport said:

There are approximately 90 houses in my road, they are all Band F apart from 2  one of which is Band E and mine is Band G.
Current Valuations range from £725,000 to 1.2 Million,  my house was valued recently for £750,000. for Equity release purposes.  The house next door to mine was sold 3 years ago following a major rebuilding project and is now a seven bedroom house with no Council banding change, once again on the market for £950,000 and still band F. I have in the past asked the Valuation office in London to look into the discrepancy and their only response is to refer back to 1991 and my appeal time to six months.    
 

It would have been better if you had started your own thread as your query is completely different to that of the OP>

The valuation for ER purposes is not a valuation for a sale and may well be a less than market value sale. The house next door should have been rebanded when it was sold 3 years ago and I am assuming that sale was after the work was done and was not between connected parties. 

1991 property values are not in the public domain.